Naruto's New World
by erickmenk
Summary: On his way to heaven, Naruto's soul was accidentally snagged by a desperate Kyuubi from another world, where he have a family, civilians see him as a hero, and all shinobis hate his guts.
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: Naruto's New Life

A/N: I do not own Naruto so don't sue.

GENRE: Dimension-Travel Action/Adventure/Romance

SUMMARY: After a final attempt to turn the tides of war against an Orochimaru, Naruto suddenly woke up in a Konoha where the villagers saw him as a hero but all his precious people only saw him as a spoiled brat and a nuisance. But the biggest surprised of all is that a mother he had never knew was alive, and that he also has a younger sister with a terminal illness. Can he cope with this new world before him? Can he regain the trust of his precious people once again? And would he be able to defeat the Orochimaru of this world?

**PROLOGUE**

"So, Iruka-sensei, this is it. The final battle against snake-face." The 25 year old blue-eyed, blond man said as he watch the approaching army of thousands of ninja from the top wall of Konohagakure's main gate.

"Yes, Naruto-kun. Or should I call you Kage-sama?" The scarred-faced man wearing a red ANBU uniform and a white dolphin mask said.

Uzumaki Naruto, Fox-Frog Sannin, and Kage of the last remaining stronghold against the Sound, gave the man a sad smile as he said, "It's strange. I finally reached my dream to be Kage, yet I feel no sense of accomplishment from it. Is it because they merely gave it to me since they thought there won't be any village left to save?"

"Don't be daft, Naruto. You know very well that all of them picked you because they acknowledge your strength. They all believed you have the power to change the fate of the world. Or at least make sure that the next generation would have something to look forward to." Iruka said to his former pupil. He can't help but smile at remembering the look on his former pupil's face when he emerged out of the meeting room to see everyone, shinobi and civilians alike, bowing down to him and declaring him their chosen Kage.

At first Naruto thought it was a joke since everyone knows that the title of Kage had been cut off since Tsunade's death, as well as the death of the rest of the Kages of the Great Shinobi Nation, years ago. But his friends, namely Neji, Iruka, Shikamaru, and even Gaara had also bowed down before him and presented him with the Hokage robes. But not only does the robe have the symbol Fire, it also have the symbol of Water, Earth, Wind, and Lightning. So all in all, he is the Kage of all Elemental Countries and is recognized as such.

He had reluctantly accepted it. And when he turned to the seven hundred or more shinobi and at most a thousand civilians, all he saw were recognition, something he had always craved as a child, something he thought he would never get to see in his lifetime. Although they were mostly facing oblivion against Sound's army in the next couple of hours, he would do his damn best to make sure he deserves this role.

"Do you think they're proud of me? Everyone I mean." Naruto asked once more, sadness evident on his voice. And in an almost inaudible whisper, he added, "Do you think she's proud of me?"

Iruka knew perfectly well who 'Everyone' is. They are his friends, family, people who had got to know him and acknowledge his strength. People who died believing in him until the very end. And the 'she' could only mean one person, the only other person rather than the Sandaime Hokage who had loved him unconditionally even before he became a gennin. Hyuuga Hinata, Naruto's late wife.

Iruka gently put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and said, "I am sure they are all very proud of you, especially her. I know I am. Your strength managed to keep Konoha strong despite overwhelming odds against the Sound. You have managed to get most of the survivors of the other Hidden Villages and gave them a home here in Konoha. You are now the Kage, supreme leader recognized by all other Hidden Villages of the Shinobi Continent. And in a few moments, the Bringer of Death and Rebirth to the World."

"Getting melodramatic on me now, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, gracing his teacher with an actual grin.

"Not at all, considering what you're about to do." The older man said, looking at the approaching army.

The plan was relatively simple. Gaara would use Shukaku to cover the entire Hidden Village of the Leaf in a Sand Barrier for three months before Naruto releases Kyuubi to decimate Sound throughout the entire Shinobi Continent. It would have been a stupid plan if Naruto hadn't made sure that the Fox Demon had given it's word that it would make sure everyone inside the sand barrier, as well as any future descendants that sprung from them would be spared of it's wrath.

Suddenly, three figures appeared behind them. Iruka turned to greet the newcomers while Naruto didn't even turned his head away from the approaching army as he asked, "Is everything ready?"

"All of them know their roles." Neji said in an even tone. "Once the barrier is down, all shinobi are to scout the entire continent for any survivors that the fox would leave behind and offer them help if they can."

"All plans for future restoration of the Shinobi Continent are being rechecked just in case there comes any unexpected variable." Shikamaru lazily added. "But chances of that are minimal. We are still expecting that there will be at least twice as many survivors compared to the number of people in Konohagakure right now, including both civilians and shinobis."

"Good. Then it's time I earned my title. So I guess this is goodbye, everyone." Naruto said with a confident smirk that is rarely seen in his face for the last few years.

Neji, Shikamaru, and Iruka couldn't help but give the blond man a sad smile in return. This would be the last time they would see their friend and they were glad to know that at least the last thing they will remember about seeing him is that confident smirk that always manage to lift up their spirits during their youth. They all gave their last goodbyes at their dear friend before jumping down towards the inner wall of the village, leaving Naruto alone with the red headed Shukaku vessel.

For a moment, neither said anything, merely looking at the approaching army of thousands.

Finally, Gaara spoke and said, "I wish I could go into battle alongside you."

Naruto gave him a smirk and said, "I know. And I bet Shukaku is pissed at the role he got."

"He is. But he knows better than to disrespect you or the Kyuubi."

"Don't worry about it. Shukaku would be known in the future as a savior of the people and would gain their respect, something the Sand Demon appreciates other than bloodlust according to Kyuubi."

"I see." After another awkward silence, he said, "You are not going to survive."

"I know." Naruto gave his friend a sad smile. "You'll watch over them, won't you?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, my friend." Naruto said with all the sincerity he could muster.

Gaara merely nodded and started to do the demonic hand seals that would allow Shukaku to cover the entire village of Konohagakure with impenetrable sand for at least a few months.

Giving one final nod to his friend, Naruto jumped down the outer wall and started running towards the Sound Army with that never-say-die smirk of his, not even paying attention as thousands of tons of sand started erupting around the entire village.

"_Yo, Kyuubi, it's finally time for the Cleansing."_

"_**I hear you, Brat. It would be a glorious way to die."**_

"_Glad to hear it. Just try to spare the innocents and tell them Konoha's message, okay. There are a lot of survivors out there and quite a lot of shinobis that were only forced to side with the Snake-Bastard."_

"_**I know, Kit."**_

"_What? That's it? That's all you got to say?"_

"_**There is nothing more to say, Brat. Your soul would be rip out of your body the moment you release the seal. And the chakra you will leave behind would sustain me for at most three months before my own soul follow yours. So there isn't much to say since you and I would be stuck with each other again pretty soon."**_

"_Yeah. But still, it would be a long three months. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad I'm finally going to have my 'alone time' but I never have before since you were always there."_

"_**Stop being so melodramatic, kit. It would be a grand vacation to be finally away from you, even for a short while. Now stop bitching! You're taking the fun out of mass mayhem and destruction I am about to perform."**_

"_Yeah, yeah, you blood-thirsty fuzzball." _Naruto said sarcastically as more than ten thousand Kage Bushins popped into existence all around him, engaging the frontline of the Sound Army. He then summoned Gamabunta, the Frog Boss, and Kyuusei, a giant eight tailed fox and told them, "Hey, Kyuusei, Boss, could you guys keep them off my back for a few minutes?"

"**So, the Cleansing has begun, huh. Sure thing, kid."** The Frog Boss, Gamabunta said as he readied his katana.

"**It would be my honor, Naruto-sama."** Kyuusei said in a more respectful tone while glaring at the Frog Boss for not showing Naruto proper respect.

Both Boss Summons had deflected all attacks made by the army against the blond Supreme Kage, who was already a quarter way past the three hundred seals needed to release the seal and at the same time, leave his chakra with Kyuubi when he dies. Even Manda, the Snake Boss wasn't able to get pass two other Boss Summon to stop Naruto.

"THIS IS IT!"

"**THIS IS IT!"**

Both Naruto and Kyuubi said at the same time as he finished the last of the seal. Suddenly, Naruto was engulped in a sea of red chakra, burning his body inside out. He was well aware that he was dying, but despite the pain, he knew, his death would give this world hope for a brighter future. With the last of his strength, he turned towards the now trembling army in front of him and smirked. "Let the Cleansing, begin."

And then, everything went blank.

**CHAPTER 1**

When Naruto finally opened his eyes, he was expecting to see either the gates of Heaven or the fires of Hell, but instead, he found himself in an all too familiar sewer he had visited so many times through the coarse of his life. He was inside his mind once more, the same dirty walls, the same low ceiling, the same murky water, the same busted pipe system.

Thinking that he might have fouled up the seal release, he started heading towards Kyuubi's cage at the very center of his mindscape. Soon enough, he found himself in front of a very huge gate at the end of the sewer. But it was different than what he remembered. For one thing, the bars seem to be rusted and weak, compared to the golden shine it used to have. There also seems to be some kind of parasitic molds that are slowly eating away the walls surrounding the cage. The only thing that looked the same is the seal that keeps the cage intact.

He walked towards the gate, which immediately shifted its shape to allow him entry. As he passed through the gate, instead of feeling the enormous chakra of the most powerful of the Tailed Beasts, he felt a twiddling presence that is barely there anymore. He looked around the endless sea of darkness but found no sign of the Kyuubi.

He was just about to call out to him when, out of nowhere, tendrils of red chakra engulfed him and held him firmly in place. Then, an unfamiliar voice was heard saying, **"I have found you again, foolish mortal. You thought you could just run away and let me die in such a pitiful state, you pathetic excuse of a worm?"**

Then, a red chakra slowly started to shimmer in front of him, shaping into a form of a fox that is twice as big as himself. When the form is finally complete and solid, Naruto found himself face to face with the Kyuubi no Kitsune. But there was a big difference with this demon fox compared to the one he had grown to know. This fox seems to have a lighter shade of orange fur, and instead of black, it has white fur highlighting the edge of its ears, mouth, legs and tails. Also, this fox is a bit more feminine than his Kyuubi. Also, this fox seems to be quite weak, as if its power is barely keeping it standing.

When the fox finally got a good look at him, it growled with such ferocity that made the hairs of his back stand on end. **"You are not my jailer! Who are you, human? Speak now or suffer my wrath!"**

Naruto smirked. He had endure his own fox ever since he got to know it and if this other fox thinks it could get him to cower in its presence then it got another thing coming. "Naruto."

**"No, you are not. You may look like him, your souls may even smell the same, but you are not my vessel! Now, you will suffer for invading my cell!" **This Kyuubi shouted in rage before she sprung towards him with intent to kill.

Seeing this, Naruto narrowed his eyes and immediately called forth his own mixed chakra, destroying the tendrils holding him.

The Kyuubi was so shocked at seeing a mere human totally destroyed her chakra tendrils that it stopped dead in its track, giving Naruto the chance to attack it.

Using his own pools of chakra mixed with his Kyuubi's youkai, he pinned down the other fox by the neck, totally immobilizing its use of its chakra by blocking it with his own.

**"Release me, human scum! Release me!"**

"SHUT UP!" Naruto shouted at the strangling fox. Putting more pressure on its neck, he ordered. "Revert to your humanoid form."

**"Who are you to order me, the most feared of the Tailed Demons? Release me or I will burn your soul for all eternity, ape-rat!"** The fox continued to struggle but with no avail. The human's hold on it was too strong.

"Not until you revert to your humanoid form and answer some questions. Now, revert to your human form!"

The fox tried to struggle some more, using its chakra to push him off, with no apparent success. Finally, the fox started to change. But instead of a man that Naruto was used to seeing, the fox turned into a buxom, red headed, girl of about 20 years of age. A buxom, _naked_, red headed girl! And with fox ears, red slitted eyes, and nine reddish fox tails.

Naruto almost had a nosebleed at the slender figure underneath him. Fortunately for him, his exposure to the naked female flesh at a young age thanks to a perverted sannin allowed him to keep better control of his raging hormones.

"Now, if you swear to answer my questions and not to attack me once I release you, I will answer all questions you will ask. Is it a deal?"

The now human fox gave her captor a death glare before finally spitting out a **"Fine, human."**

"Good." He then jumped off of her, giving the two of them at least five meters of space between them just in case Kyuubi decides to attack him, no matter how small a chance it has considering a demon had just given him her words. And no demon, especially powerful ones, goes back on their word.

**"Who are you, human?" **She asked as soon as she was on her feet.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, Fox-Frog Sannin of Konohagakure, Kage of the survivors of the Hidden Villages of the Shinobi Continent, and Leader of the Alliance in the war against Otogakure." He said proudly. "Now, who are you?"

**"Are you blind, human? Standing before you is the most feared of all the Tailed Beasts, I am Kyuubi no Kitsune."**

Naruto pondered her answer for a few minutes, thinking of how it is possible to see another Kyuubi no Kitsune in his mind. He looked at her intently for a few moments, trying to keep his eyes on her face instead of her perfectly shaped chest, slim waist, and lower regions. Then he noticed that her tails seems to be a bit transparent in some areas. "Why are you so weak?"

The fox growled a bit but answered his question nonetheless. **"I am weak now because my vessel's soul decided to flee when he was attacked by a rogue ninja a month ago. When I lent him my chakra to save his pitiful life, he used that chakra to separate his soul from his body to escape rather than face his opponent. A body without a soul will soon die so I was using my chakra tendrils, spreading it throughout all plane of existence to bring his soul back to his body. I may be indifferent to death but I shall NOT die in such a pitiful manner!"**

_"Plane of existence? A different dimension!"_ Naruto thought. According to his Kyuubi, the spirit world is just another plane of existence. There even exist other realities, sort of a different dimension, which is also akin to another plane of existence. And if this Kyuubi was using its chakra tendrils as fishing lines to get the soul of another Naruto from the spirit world, it might have caught him by mistake since he has practically the same soul as his counterpart.

"How long have you been imprisoned?" he asked.

**"Eleven years."**

"Eleven years? Then he is still a child!"

**"Yes, a child. A useless one at that! And now, I will die doing nothing because that child decides to run for it."**

"Can't you just use your tendrils to catch him like you did me?"

**"Not anymore. I am at my last leg. Spreading my chakra outside this cage the first time have already drained me of half my powers. And doing it again is impossible now."**

"I see." Naruto thought hard about this predicament. On one hand, he could just leave and go to the spirit world where he would wait for his Kyuubi before facing Judgement. On the other hand, he could stay and live in his counterpart's place, which wouldn't be so hard since he and the other Naruto practically have similar souls. Spreading his chakra outward, he felt the entire mindscape of his counterpart begun to react to his whim. The farthest of his own chakra tendril could already feel some sense of the outside world. He knew he could wake up anytime he wanted and his counterpart's body would accept him readily as it would this world's Naruto.

He turned towards the female Kyuubi and asked, "Hey, Kyuubi, tell me about your vessel."

**"Why should I waste my time telling you anything, human?"**

Instead of taking offense, Naruto gave her a huge grin and said, "Because I have a deal for you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nurse Hideo Kyoko was just finishing her rounds at the hospital when she heard a noise at the end of the dark hallway of the third floor. Stepping out of the reception desk, she went towards the noise only to find a pitiful sight of a familiar 4 years old child with a crutch limping towards a familiar room just down the hallway from her own.

Kazama Naomi, daughter of the late Yondaime Hokage, had been suffering from a chakra disease that had killed her father five years ago. Despite looking like a very cute four years old, she is actually seven years old going eight. But her disease had halted her physical and mental growth development and would soon destroy her chakra coil system, thus killing the poor child. As of now, her disease had made her body so weak and brittle that her bones could brake even with a mere application of pressure on them. Her immune systems are almost none existent which makes her very receptable to other diseases, which is why she had spent half of her life in this hospital. And her muscles had stopped growing, making any movement for her a huge struggle.

Kyoko immediately went to her and kneeled in front of her as she said in a calm sweet voice, "Naomi-chan, you know you're not allowed to walk by yourself. So what are you doing walking alone at night?"

Naomi grinned at her cutely, her golden blond hair and cute blue eyes making the poor nurse almost shout 'kawaii' and hug her like a stuffed teddy bear, and said, "I just wanted to visit my Onii-chan again."

Kyoko managed to stop herself from sighing outwardly. She doesn't know how such a sweet little girl could have such a spoiled older brother like Kazama Naruto. The young boy used to be so nice, but right after the death of his father, the Yondaime Hokage, he had gotten involved with the wrong sort of crowd. He became such a problem child, pulling dangerous pranks, insulting people lesser than him, and demanding what he want by telling people he should have what he want because he is the son of the Yondaime and the hero of Konoha, due to the fact that he keeps the demon fox locked up inside him. And the Council pretty much bails him out every time he gets caught, which had spoiled him even more.

Naomi and Naruto's mother, Kazama Akane, had really tried to keep her son in line but she barely had time for her son since her daughter needed constant attention. And being in constant disagreement with the Council doesn't help her disposition either. There was even a rumor that the Council had demanded to dissolve the title of Hokage because the Sandaime failed to protect Konoha's hero from a rogue ninja attack last month, which had caused Naruto to go into a comma. But such rumor had never been proven true since the Sandaime is still in office.

Kyoko was already planning to tell Naomi that she should be in bed and just visit her brother tomorrow. But when she look at her, the little girl had initiated the PDE (Puppy Dog Eyes) attack on her, which when combined with the little girl's natural cute-factor, could be considered as a deadly weapon. And Kyoko just got the full blast of such a dreaded attack. "Okay, Naomi-chan. But afterwards, you'll go straight to bed, alright."

"Yey!" Naomi cheered as the nice nurse help her walk towards her older brother's room. But when they got there, both girls got the surprise of their lives. The young blond boy, who was said to never recover from his coma, was sitting by the window ledge, looking at the night stars. "Onni-chan!" Naomi squealed happily upon seeing her brother up and about.

Kyoko almost took a step back when the blond boy finally turned towards them. She had never seen such intensity in those blue eyes of his before, which was solely directed at the happy little girl. It is as if the nurse got caught in a blast of silent emotion radiating from the young boy.

Kazama Naruto walk slowly towards them, his eyes never leaving his sister's face. There seems to be so much emotion dancing in his eyes at the moment. And all of them directed at his sister.

Naomi, on the other hand, who doesn't even seems to notice the conflicting emotions on his brother's eyes, merely smiled at him happily and put her arms forward, silently telling his brother to carry her, like he did before father died.

Kyoko pitied the little girl even more for her actions. For years now, Naomi would always do this gesture to her brother only to be neglected as if she was nothing. Her brother Naruto had never indulged Naomi in anything ever since their father died. He always said it would make him look like a sissy. But Naomi never faltered. She would do this despite getting nothing in return.

Kyoko was about to reprimand the little girl when the most unexpected thing happened. The boy had given his sister a genuine smile and picked her up gently in his arms, hugging her close to him as if he had just met her for the first time in his life. "Tadaima, Naomi-imouto-chan." (I'm home, my dear sister Naomi)

Naomi squealed in delight, she knew that if she keeps on trying, she would be rewarded one day. Naruto, on the other hand, savored the feeling of having a true blood relative in his arms. He never had the chance to have any true family so it wasn't a surprised to him when tears of joy started flowing down his face. Both siblings were just too happy to have each other, one after years of neglect while the other throughout his entire life, that they didn't even noticed when Kyoko started running heading towards the nearest telephone to contact some people.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kazama Akane, a 29 years old chunin teacher at the Shinobi Academy was leaving behind a huge dust cloud as she dash towards the ninja hospital with speed that would put her late husband's Body Flicker Technique to shame. The 5'7" slim, brown haired, blue eyed kunoichi had, barely fifteen minutes ago, received a call from her friend at the hospital. If it weren't for the huge stock of paper works she had from the academy, she would have been at the hospital hours ago. And now, it seems like her son had miraculously reawakened from a coma everyone thought he would never wake from and that he seems to be bonding with his sister.

She really want to get her hopes up but it had been five years since Naruto had done any type of bonding with his sister Naomi. She had to make sure that it would be just a spur of the moment thing or it might break poor Naomi's heart.

She reached the hospital five minutes later and quickly run up towards her son's room at the third floor. She barely gave her friend Kyoko a wave before she rushed towards the door. When she got there, she heard something she haven't heard for a few years now. Laughter. She could see Naomi sitting on Naruto's lap, laughing as her brother was making goofy faces at her while telling her some kind of funny story. Her son was laughing too, and seems to be genuinely enjoying himself with Naomi's company, like they used to before her husband died from that chakra disease.

"Naruto-kun?" Akane said, her voice so soft that it was almost a whisper. She just stood there, praying to all the Kami out there that this wasn't a dream.

Both children turned to her. Naomi squealed like she always does and waved at her happily. Naruto, on the other hand, seems to have a shock look on his face as he stared at her. If she didn't know any better, she would have told herself that her son had just saw her for the very first time in his entire life and was trying to imprint every little thing about her into his mind.

Then, finally, he smiled at her, a truly genuine smile, and said, "Hi there, okaa-san. Tadaima."

She couldn't stop herself anymore. She immediately went towards her children and gave her son a very tight hug that almost broke his ribs. "Oh, my darling Naruto. You're awake! Thank Kami you're back!"

"O-okaa-s-san. . . a-air." Akane immediately loosen her hold, allowing Naruto to breathe once more. When he returned the hug, he gave her a smile.

"Family Hug!" Naomi shouted cheerfully as she joined her mom and brother in another bouts of hugs.

Kyoko, who was watching from the door, couldn't help but smile at the touching scene. She gave the family one last smile before quietly closing the door so they could have some privacy.


	2. Chapter 2

TITLE: Naruto's New World

I do not own Naruto. Seriously.

GENRE: Dimension-Travel Action/Adventure/Romance

SUMMARY: After a final attempt to turn the tides of war against an Orochimaru, Naruto suddenly woke up in a Konoha where the villagers saw him as a hero but all his precious people only saw him as a spoiled brat and a nuisance. But the biggest surprised of all is that a mother he had never knew was alive, and that he also has a younger sister with a terminal illness. Can he cope with this new world before him? Can he regain the trust of his precious people once again? And would he be able to defeat the Orochimaru of this world?

**CHAPTER 2**

Naruto stared at the white ceiling of his hospital room unable to sleep. Sleeping beside him is his sister, who had gone to sleep a few hours ago, still hugging him, while they were talking about the good old days, particularly when Kazama Arashi, Naruto's father, was still alive. It had been a subtle way of getting more information about this world as they reminiscences about the past, and he had enjoyed it quite a bit.

He glanced at his mother who was sleeping peacefully at a nearby couch, a smile adorning her beautiful face.

-----Flashback (a few hours ago)-----

"M-Mother?" Naruto had said quietly a few hours ago, just after Naomi fell asleep.

"Yes, son?" She had asked calmly. He seems to be nervous about something, as if he had done something bad and felt guilty about it. Reassuring him, she held his hand and smiled at him warmly, edging him to continue.

"I-I want to. . . to apologize. I know I haven't. . . I haven't been the best of sons since father died." She was about to reprimand him gently, that it wasn't his fault, but her son had cut her off and added softly, "Please, mom, let me finish."

Sighing in defeat, she gave her son a smile before nodding.

He gave her a small smile and said, "I know that it hasn't been easy for you, especially when Naomi's chakra disease started to worsen, and me adding to the problem. I mean, uh, well . . . you see, er, I . . ."

Akane couldn't help but smile as her son begun to stutter, despite how hard he tried to be serious. Her husband had never been good at being dramatically sincere, he would always end up screwing around at the end. And it seems that her son had inherited the same trait.

"Damn!" Naruto cursed before sighing in defeat. "I guess I'm not really good with all this mushy stuff."

His mother merely smiled at him and gave him a hug. "Don't worry, dear. You're father wasn't much of a charmer either when he's seriously thinking about it. But when he does it unconsciously, you could be sure the girl would melt like putty in his hands. I remember that time when he tried to cook something exotic for our dinner date and managed to burn his kitchen instead. And when we failed cleaning it up, we just ended up in a food fight. Pretty soon, we were rolling in the kitchen floor, food all over us, literally. Then, one thing lead to another and we found ourselves making hot, sweaty,"

"MOM, PLEASE!" Naruto said louder than he intended, immediately stopping his mother from divulging such things about his parent's sex lives. Just the thought of his parents doing the nasty made him shiver. "Too much information!"

Akane pouted but she didn't add more about that particular story. Instead, she gave her boy another hug and said, "I'm just glad I have our family back. It's been years since we had anything resembling a happy family."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Naruto said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Don't worry about it, honey. And I'm sure your sister had never once thought anything less of you."

"Speaking of Naomi," At this, Naruto's face became all-serious, almost giving Akane a shock at her son's sudden change of facial expression. "Okaa-san, can I get access to dad's personal library?"

Akane was surprised at the request. Naruto hadn't entered his father's personal library ever since his father died. In fact, he was almost always trying to stay away from places that reminds him greatly of his father. And since Arashi and Naruto had spent quite a lot of time in there doing research and stuff, Naruto had stayed clear of it. "Sure, dear. But why?"

"I think dad was working on something, a new seal of some kind that might fix Naomi's chakra coil system. He just never got to finish it. I just thought, that maybe, I could find a way to finish it."

Akane knew perfectly well what Naruto was talking about. Her husband had suffered from over-exposure to the red chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune when he used the Shiiki Fuujin Technique to seal the fox into Naruto eleven years ago. Having Arashi's chakra coil system contaminated with that of the demon fox had slowly destroyed it. Such contamination was passed onto Naomi when she was born four years later. Her husband had been trying to come up with a variation of the Shiiki Fuujin Seal that would filter the fox's chakra in Naomi's body which would allow it to mix with his daughter's own chakra without destroying the little girl's coil system. But he never got to finish it since he died two years later, leaving instructions to his wife to give a copy of his research to his predecessor, the Sandaime Hokage, in hopes of finding someone to finish his work for him to save his daughter's life.

The Sandaime had done everything within his power to find trustworthy people to finish the research but no one seems to have been able to find anyone who could figure out a solution. Not even Jiriaya, a renowned seal master, was able to figure out how to make it work. According to the Sandaime, Jiriaya is constantly searching around the entire Shinobi Continent looking for someone who could finish the seal.

She couldn't help but give him a sad smile knowing that he might never figure it out before Naomi succumbed to her disease. But still, if it would make her son happy, then she would allow him access to his father's library. "I'll give you the key to his personal library as soon as we get home. But, Naruto-kun, just try not to be too disappointed if things doesn't turn out as you hope it would."

"I'll find a way to save her, mom. It's a promise of a lifetime." Outwardly, Naruto merely nodded his head and smiled. But inside, he was smirking. He didn't took Jiriaya's title of Sannin by having it handed to him. He had worked hard for it, surpassing his teacher's skills and power, including the super-pervert's Mastery of Seals.

-----End Flashback-----

Naruto glanced at her sleeping sister whose head is peacefully resting on his chest. He gave her one of his genuine smiles. He knew that his plan to cure her have a fifty-fifty chance of success. But the alternative of watching her dwindle and die by the time she reach ten years of age had squashed all doubts of not continuing with the plan. He would make sure his sister survive even if he have to die in the process.

**_'You seem to be quite attached to them already, considering you knew them for barely a few hours.'_** Came a female voice in his head.

_'That I am, Kyuubi. I've always dreamed of having a family. And now that I have them, I'll make sure to protect them with my life.'_ He answered mentally. Allowing the fox to mentally talk to him whenever she wanted was just one of the few deals he had made with her.

**_'You are far stronger than my previous vessel. He was a sniveling coward, a pathetic excuse for a human worm. Unlike you, he had never truly believed my presence within him, telling himself that I never truly existed, that all those people around him were fools to believe that such a great being as a demon fox was trapped in his belly. And when he finally got to face me, his soul fled screaming, leaving his own body behind to wither and die. Maybe that is why his soul and mine never gotten a chance to merge for even just a bit. And why I wasn't automatically allowed to follow him to the spirit world.'_**

_'I don't know if I would have eventually ended up just like him if I have been born in this world. Despite my rough life in my own world, I was grateful for the experiences that allowed me to become what I am today.'_

**_'Yes. Growing in a hate filled environment, struggling to find those very few people you considered precious, and valuing there lives more than your own. You were forced to become strong as fast as you can just so you can protect those precious people, which, strangely, includes your demon fox, allowing your souls to merge at such an extent that you are almost two entities and one soul.'_**

_'There is nothing strange about me and my Kyuubi bonding. We had gone through so many battles where we were forced to combine both our mind and bodies just to stay alive. I have come to understand him as he had come to respect me. And soon enough, he would arrive here.'_

**_'And how exactly do you plan to accommodate having two demon foxes in your body? Such a strain on your body would kill you, no matter how strong you become in such a short amount of time.'_**

At this, Naruto gave the fox a mental smirk before saying, _'I'm not. By the time my Kyuubi arrives, you would be someone else's problem.'_

**_'What is that supposed to mean, human?'_** she growled threateningly at him.

_'A split seal. Then, if possible, Complete Demon Transfer.'_ The female fox was about to demand some answers but Naruto had cut her off immediately and said, _'First off, I am planning to split my seal and share it with my sister, giving you two vessels instead of one. You will fix my sister's chakra coils system and optimize her physical and mental growth, preparing her to accommodate all your chakra. Once my Kyuubi comes, you will be forced to transfer your consciousness and all your chakra to my sister. After that, I could complete the seal on my sister allowing your complete transfer to her body. But none of this would be possible if you don't comply willingly.'_

The Kyuubi scoff and said, **_'And what makes you think I would be willing to transfer myself into such a weak container?'_**

_'Many reasons. One: the Split Seal would allow you partial freedom. Two: my sister isn't weak. It was your own chakra that is slowly destroying her coil system. Once you repair it, she would be more than adequate to hold all of your powers since she is already familiar with your demon chakra. Three: as you said, my body wouldn't be able to hold the chakra of two demon foxes, which would then kill me, and you as well. Four: Naomi is a girl'_

**_'What does that have to do with anything?'_**

_'A lot. Gender plays a big factor in the Sealing process that is why my counterpart was never able to bond with you. If you and my sister ever decide to work together, you two could wield your chakras much more efficiently, thus providing much more power.'_ Here, he paused, his face contorting such seriousness than ever before. _'And lastly, if you do not comply and allow my sister to die, I shall _**destroy**_ you to the point that you would _**seize to exist**_.'_ At this statement, Naruto had let his own chakra burst forth inside his mind, easily surpassing that of the female Kyuubi's total chakra at her weakened state.

Kyuubi couldn't help but be intimidated. She knew this Naruto would make good on his promise. And in her current state, she knew she would lose if a battle broke out. Besides, her survival is too dependent on him at the moment. **_'Fine, human. You have a deal. But do not think that I would not smite you given half the chance.'_**

At this, Naruto smirk. _'Fine by me, Kitsune.'_

Finally, he felt the female fox, which he dubbed with the name Kitsune, receded into the back of his mind. When he felt that he was truly mentally alone, he glanced at both his sister and mother and saw to see the effects of his sudden burst of chakra a few minutes ago. He could see that both of them seem to have sprouted a small smile on their faces, telling him that they subconsciously trust him too much to fear such awesome power inside him. If they didn't, then his chakra burst would have been similar to a mild dose of Kanishibari no Jutsu (Killer Intent Technique). Such is the effects of his mixed chakra: deadly to his enemies, and soothing to his precious people.

Smiling at his family one last time, Naruto finally closed his eyes and went to sleep, dreaming that tomorrow he could explore more of this wonderful alternative world, and too happy at the moment to notice the suppressed chakra of an ANBU guard hanging just outside the window.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The female ANBU wearing a dog mask was quite bored at the mission given to her personally by the Sandaime. If it wasn't for her faithful dog companion, a huge brown husky named Torumaru, she would have left her post hours ago.

She couldn't help but think why the Hokage had such an interest at the boy. Sure the kid was the son of the Yondaime, but all his life, he was nothing more than a useless, spoiled brat that the Council usually used his fame as a tool to boost their own image to the public. But still, there wasn't really anything special about the kid, barring the fact that he holds the dreaded Kyuubi no Kitsune inside of him. The only time the Kyuubi's chakra had ever manifested itself was a month ago when he was attacked by a rogue nin. But instead of fighting back, the kid fainted at the first sight of his own blood. He's been in a coma ever since. And now, the kid is awake. He seems to be more mellowed out than he used to.

She was in a middle of stretching her limbs when she suddenly felt a huge burst of unknown chakra coming from inside the kid's room. She stiffened. It was localized but also so strong. It made her sweat cold. Almost every fiber of her being was affected. She maybe only twenty four years old but she wasn't too young to forget where she had felt such a strong chakra before.

It was the Kyuubi's, but at the same time, it was not. She was getting mixed signals from it. For one thing, its degree of power scared her shirtless. And yet the killing intent she felt from it wasn't evil. Malevolent, huge, and downright frightening, but not evil.

When she slip down the wall to look inside the window, she was surprised to see the young blond boy dimly lighting the whole room with a faint red and blue glowing chakra. And the strange thing is, the kid's parent and sister doesn't seem to be affected at all. As if the mixed chakra was soothing them in their sleep. Then suddenly, the mixed chakra disappeared and the boy went to sleep.

She watch for a few minutes more until she was sure all occupants in the room was asleep before climbing up back to the roof, where Torumaru was waiting for her.

The dog bark at her once and she nodded at him before saying, "Yes, I can still feel the lingering effects of the chakra myself."

"Arf!"

"Yes, you're right. We should report immediately to the Hokage." And with that, she jumped off the roof and went straight to the Hokage Tower to file a report of the first controlled manifestation of Kyuubi no Kitsune's chakra since its demise in the hands of the Yondaime eleven years ago.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Sandaime Hokage was in a quandary. It haven't been more than a day since the reawakening of his successor's son but the reports coming in have been getting weirder by the hour.

Just last night, Kazama Naruto had miraculously awakened from a comma that was said to be impossible to do. And according to the nurse who witnessed it, he seems to have gotten a total attitude change. _'It's like he had just met his own family for the first time in his life.'_ The nurse had said, according to the ANBU he had ordered to investigate.

A few hours later, Inuzuka Hana, the ANBU in charge of guarding him that night, had reported that Naruto had eventually called forth the Kyuubi's chakra in the middle of the night, which worried him a bit.

Then, in the early morning, Tekado Homura, a pompous rich businessman and member of the village council, had rudely barged into the room to welcome back Naruto to the land of the living. Knowing him, Homura must have barged into the boy's room unannounced, escorted by at least half a dozen guards as if royalty, and started congratulating 'Konoha's Little Hero' while rudely ignoring the boys mother and sister.

According to reports, Naruto had taken offense of the pompous businessman and had hit him with such a powerful revision of Kanashibari no Jutsu that the man, as well as all of his guards, had the living daylights scared out of them.

_"Councilman Homura was in a middle of his speech and had said something about the kid's mother not being a responsible parent when he finally let lose such a powerful killing intent that it had rendered the old man and his bodyguards absolutely scared shitless before the kid had ordered them to leave with such a cold voice. The killer intent was so strong that it even had me scared stiff, and I was observing secretly from a tree twenty meters away." _Was the report he got from another ANBU he had ordered to guard him. When the Hokage had asked if it was a Kanashibari no Jutsu, the ANBU had shook his head in negative and said, _"No, Hokage-sama. I don't think it is because Naruto-san's mother and sister weren't affected by the killing intent at all. And Akane-san was standing next to Homura at the time."_

That had worried the Hokage a great deal. No one had ever heard a Kanashibari no Jutsu at such a high degree that specifically picks its targets within the range of the caster. It's simply impossible.

And now, he's forced to attend an emergency council meeting discussing the said demon vessel, and why, according to Councilman Himura, Kazama Naruto should be put under 24 hours ANBU watch because demon fox seems to have started breaking out of him.

"Don't be ridiculous, Councilman Homura. Naruto-san must have just been a bit too emotional at the time considering he had just woken up from a comma. The Yondaime Hokage had assured us time and time again that the seal that holds the demon fox will never break." Hyuuga Hizashi said.

Idekura Kawaki, another one of those pompous, snobbish, council members, who thinks more about his public image than the village itself said, "And just to assure you, I would personally go and visit Naruto-san to wish him a speedy recovery. Why, we could even make it a public event by inviting most of the villagers to pay witness when we escort him out of the hospital and back to society that had missed him dearly."

Two other council members had input on their own plans concerning 'Konoha's Little Hero' as a tool for some publicity stunt while Homura, who was clearly ignored, kept whining about the boy being a threat to the village.

Throughout all this, only three of the seven council members thought that this meeting was just a waste of time, and that includes the twin brother of the Hyuuga clan head, the 50 years old former kunoichi Takeshi Sayako, and the master blacksmith Ishibara Kenji.

The Hokage, who had kept his silence throughout the entire meeting, merely watch as the council members fight among themselves, getting a headache in the process.

An hour later, when the council was finalizing the plan of personally welcoming Naruto back to the village as soon as he's let out of the hospital, a jounin had silently entered the room and whispered something to the Hokage, who, all of the sudden, sported a huge grin on his face.

Seeing that grin, all council members suddenly went quiet and stared at the Sandaime, waiting for him to share the news that had put such a grin on his usually stoic face.

When the Sandaime was sure that all eyes were on him, he smirked and said, "Well, it seems like a public welcome for the return of Naruto is impossible now. As of half an hour ago, the hospital had gave their approval of letting Naruto, along with his sister, to leave the hospital. And if my guess is right, then they should be arriving at their home right about now."

"B-but that's too soon!" yelled a shock council member. "The boy just woke up from a month long comma. How could the doctors just let him go like that?"

"And besides, his sister should still be confined there." Kawaki said indignantly.

"Actually, Kazama Naomi has been cleared to leave the hospital days ago but decided to stay with her brother, and Akane-san agreed so she can watch over both her children better." The Hokage said.

Those same council members immediately voiced their complaints about how the hospital staff weren't doing their proper job, that is until Hizashi had asked the Hokage, "How exactly did Akane-san convinced the doctors to let her son go?"

The Hokage turned his head towards the jounin that had reported to him, giving him the silent command to answer them.

The jounin stepped forward before saying, "Actually, sir, it was Naruto-san who had requested to be let out of the hospital saying something about having a lot of research to do. When the hospital staff tried to argue that he still needs a few days confinement, Naruto-san, he, uh,"

When the jounin trailed off, seeming to be unsure of himself, the Hokage said calmly, "Please continue. What did Naruto-san do?"

Still a bit unsure of himself, he continued on and said, "Naruto-san punched a new door through a wall, jumped off from the third floor via the newly made hole in the wall with his sister, and roof hop towards their home followed by his mother."

The silence that followed was absolute. All council members, as well as the Hokage, were quietly trying to decide whether to believe what they heard or not.

Hyuuga Hiashi decided to break such silence by saying, "Are you telling me, that an eleven year old boy, who had no previous shinobi training and had just reawaken from a month-long comma, had punched a hole through a concrete wall big enough for him, along with a passenger, to jump through, and that the same boy started jumping from roof to roof to get home?"

"Hai, Hiashi-dono." The jounin said awkwardly after a few seconds.

The room erupted into whispers as the council members try to make their own assumptions on the boy and what could be done about it, while Homura was sprouting that he was right all along.

"This is troublesome news indeed." The Hokage murmured mostly to himself.

"What are you planning to do about it, Hokage-sama? Should we put him on ANBU surveillance?" Hizashi asked silently.

"That won't be necessary, Hizashi. Knowing Akane, she would refuse all visits made to their home until she and her children gets to settle down once more. And she is adamant about her family's privacy in their own home so unless I send an ANBU commander to spy on them, she would find them and make sure they stay away from her home. So I think I shall give them a week before making a visit."

"Shouldn't you be able to convince her to see you sooner?" Hizashi asked again.

At this, the Hokage gave the Hyuuga Clan Head a chuckle. "I daresay, Hizashi-san, that you don't know Akane-chan as much as I do. She have always hated politics so you rarely ever see her at the Hokage Tower. Her children would always come first, her superiors second. That is why she had loathed the council for trying to use her son as a tool to boost their public image." He whispered so only Hiashi may hear.

Hizashi merely nodded and joined the Hokage as they watch the rest of the council argue upon themselves.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_'Damn! I really need to get this body back into shape.'_ Naruto thought as stretch his aching limbs before browsing through another scroll inside his father's personal library. His sister, who had quite a lot of fun getting carried by his older brother as they jump over Konoha's roof tops, is now sleeping on a small couch in the room while his mother is busy making lunch for them in the kitchen.

Expect being livelier because of people actually living here, the Kazama Clan House was the same as the one in his world so it wasn't hard for him to navigate through the house.

According to his counterpart's memories, the only difference between this world and his own is the Kyuubi being female rather than male. Such a thing as the gender of a demon may seem insignificant but it had made such a huge difference in the events that followed the Kyuubi's demise.

As he said before, gender serves a huge factor in sealing processes. Because the Yondaime had sealed a female demon into a male vessel, the process had not killed him instantly, it merely contaminated his chakra coil system until it's destroyed six years later. When his mother found out that her husband is alive, she managed to pull through her ordeal of going premature labor instead of dying because of sorrow. Since his father managed to live six more years, he managed to convince the village that his son is not the Kyuubi itself but a mere vessel and a sacrificial hero of Konoha. Despite his chakra disease, he and his wife managed to fool around and conceive another child, Naomi. When Arashi died, Naruto's counterpart was devastated enough to let himself get tricked by the council to be used as a tool to boost public image. They had spoiled him and get him anything he asks for, and in return they got him to do what they want like a puppet on strings.

After browsing through another scroll, he sighed. He then stretched his limbs once more since it was starting to cramp. He knew he shouldn't have forced his body too much right after waking from a coma but he really needed to start on researching how to perform the Split Seal. He already knew the basic theory behind it, all he has to do now is figure out a way to perform it.

**_'It seems you're in quite a hurry to get rid of me, human.'_** Came the female voice in his head.

_'Not at all, Kitsune. I just want to cure my sister as soon as possible. Besides, if we don't managed to split the seal with her, you won't have enough time to prepare her to accommodate you within the three months period. If my Kyuubi arrives before that happens, the chakra overload will kill both you, me, my sister, and Kyuubi. And I also need to get into shape to survive accommodating him again. He is much more powerful than you since he now have the same mixed chakra as mine.'_

_**'YOU LIE! NO OTHER BEING CAN BE MORE POWERFUL THAN ME!'** _The Kyuubi roared in rage.

_'If you ever get to synchronize your chakra with that of my sister's, you'll see what I'm talking about.'_ Naruto said, having not been intimidated at all by the demon fox. He merely continued to write notes on a spare scroll, already laying out the foundation for the Split Seal and the theories behind it.

"Naruto-kun, Naomi-chan, lunch is ready." Came the voice of Akane from the doorway.

"We're coming, mom." Naruto went to her sister to wake her, but when he saw how peaceful looking she is at the moment, he decided to let her sleep.

"Mom, I let Naomi sleep in dad's library. Is that okay?" Naruto said as he entered the dining room and saw her mother preparing three large bowls of her special homemade ramen.

"Sure, dear. It would give the two of us a chance to talk."

Naruto groaned inwardly at her tone of voice. He knew she would be curious about his sudden knowledge of shinobi arts. Fortunately for him, he had already thought of a valid story. He just hope his mom, as well as everyone else, would believe him. "Sure, mom." He said as he sat down across from her.

There was an awkward silence as the two ate their lunch. Akane kept giving her son a suspicious glanced every once in a while, while Naruto was too engross at savoring such a divine product of culinary masterpiece.

As soon as both of them were finished, Naruto needing to have more than four servings of the meal, the interrogation begun. "Now then, Naruto-kun, could you please tell me how you managed to acquire such a high caliber chakra control to do all those things at the hospital. Especially since you barely lasted at the ninja academy for six months before deciding to quit being a shinobi entirely." She asked in a calm voice.

"Mom, the only reason I quit the academy is because I don't like relearning stuff that I already know."

"What do you mean, dear?"

"Well, dad had been secretly training me by the time I was three years old. And by the time I was five, I already have below chunin-level theoretical knowledge of the shinobi arts, except for history, of coarse. That stuff just puts me to sleep. And also, I have a huge collection of dad's jutsu scrolls hidden in my room, which by the way, I have all mastered to a decent level after dad taught me all those chakra control exercises."

Naruto watched his mother intently as she processed the newly acquired information in her mind. She seems skeptical at first, but she later sprouted a smile and gave him a nod of agreement, believing his story to be true. "Very well. Is there anything else I should know about?"

"Well, um, I think I might have gotten some brain damage when that ninja tried to attack me."

In an instant, Akane was by her son's side, her 'caring-mother' mode working overtime. "Does it hurt anywhere? Are you feeling alright? You aren't having any hallucinations are you? Should I bring you back to the hospital?"

"Mom, calm down. It's not life threatening or anything like that." It took a few minutes but he finally managed to calm her down. "I just have these blank spots in my memories. I don't seem to remember some things about everything. It's like, I remember the general information about people and events but I couldn't remember the more specific details about them. For example, I know the Sandaime Hokage had been helping out our family from time to time and that I had been a bit rude to him after dad died. But I can't remember much about the things I've said or done to him that would be considered rude."

"I see. What do you think we should do about it?"

"Just remind me some of the specific stuff I've said and done over the years. That seems to be the best solution I could come up with. Other than that, I just need help getting into shape. I've been neglecting my training for a few years too long."

"Very well, Naruto-kun. I guess the first thing we should do is get you back into the ninja academy by next semester. If your theoretical knowledge is as advanced as you say it is, I could advance you to a class where most of the kids are your age. How does that sound?"

"That would be great, mom." He said, hoping that he get to be in a class where his friends would be. Just the prospect of seeing his precious people once again reassured him that he had made the right decision to live the life of this world's Naruto.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I do not own Naruto. Really.

GENRE: Dimension-Travel Action/Adventure/Romance

SUMMARY: After a final attempt to turn the tides of war against an Orochimaru, Naruto suddenly woke up in a Konoha where the villagers saw him as a hero but all his precious people only saw him as a spoiled brat and a nuisance. But the biggest surprised of all is that a mother he had never knew was alive, and that he also has a younger sister with a terminal illness. Can he cope with this new world before him? Can he regain the trust of his precious people once again? And would he be able to defeat the Orochimaru of this world?

**CHAPTER 3**

It's been five days since Naruto had woke up from his comma, and Akane had never felt happier in her life since her husband died. Not only had she gotten her son back from what was supposed to be a fatal comma, but Naomi finally gained back a brother she always wanted. The only sad thing about this is, in a few years, Naomi's chakra coil system will collapse and she would die.

Before she could dwell further into her sad thoughts, she heard a knock on the front door. Pushing her previous thoughts aside, she went to answer it and was a bit surprised at seeing the Sandaime Hokage standing in front of the door. "Oh, Hokage-sama. Ohayo." She said with a bow.

"Ohayo, Akane-san. I'm sorry for appearing so suddenly. But I believe you already know why I am here for." He said apologetically.

Akane sighed and nodded her head before letting the Hokage into her house. "At least you have the decency to wait unlike those bastards on the council."

"Yes. I had received the reports about how the more foolish members of the council tried to make a big commotion out of welcoming back Konoha's Little Hero."

At that, Akane smirked and said, "Well, they sure got what they wished for, but not in a way they were expecting, that's for sure."

"Yes, I believe Councilmen Kawaki is still trying to salvage his reputation after Naruto's acting performance. But I don't know how much he could do being coop up in the hospital."

Akane snorted at that and said, "I don't think there would be any reputation to save after being exposed as a phedopile in front of almost every civilian mothers in Konoha. Besides, it was Kawaki's fault for inviting all those women to bare witness to his so-called 'Mother's Touch' campaign."

Kawaki's Mother's Touch campaign consist of gathering all respectable and wealthy mothers in Konoha to personally give their congratulations and speedy recovery for Konoha's Little Hero. It would have boosted Kawaki's public image tremendously to the female population if it had worked.

Too bad it didn't.

Kawaki had arrived at the Kazama Estate two days ago along with all those women behind him. He knocked gently at the door and was preparing himself to recite his long drawn speech when Naruto himself opened the door. But the young blond boy never gave him a chance to speak. As soon as the child saw who it is, he shrieked in fear and slammed the door on his face. After that, he shouted nonsense after nonsense about Kawaki being a closet pervert who like to ravish innocent young boys and that Naruto himself would never allow him to get into his pants. Kawaki tried to say it was nothing but lies but Naruto have superb acting skills no one knew about. Then, there were several other kids, mostly younger than 10 years of age, appearing behind the mob and confirming that Kawaki had indeed violated them. The little kids managed to convince everyone to gang up on the poor councilman, not giving him a chance to explain himself before getting beaten within an inch of his life.

Needless to say, Kawaki won't be able to get near any child without being mobbed by protective women in Konoha for a very long time.

"Anyway, I'm sure you have a ton of work left to do so we should really get this interrogation over with." Akane said as she led the Sandaime inside her house.

"Interrogation is such a harsh word, don't you think, Akane-san?" The Sandaime said without malice.

Akane had the decency to blush. She turned to the Hokage and offered him an apologetic look before saying, "Sorry about that, Hokage-sama. It's just, I'm still trying to adjust to my son's sudden change. I know it's quite a big deal, considering what's sealed inside of him, but my gut instincts is telling me that the Kyuubi has nothing to do with the change and that I should trust Naruto entirely. And you know how often I'm right about trusting my instincts."

The Sandaime nodded at that. Akane's instincts had managed to save Konoha more than once. It was her who told Arashi to seal the Kyuubi instead of trying to kill it entirely because her gut instincts told her the Kyuubi couldn't be killed. It was also her gut instincts that told her the ambassador from Hidden Cloud shouldn't be trusted. Her husband had ordered ANBU to keep an eye on the ambassador, who was caught a few days later by Konoha ANBU trying to kidnap Hyuuga Hinata before Hyuuga Hiashi could kill the kidnapper himself, thus preventing Konoha, particularly the Hyuuga Clan, from being put on the political hot seat.

"Whatever it is that caused my son's change, the Kyuubi had no hand in it whatsoever." Akane continued.

"I see. At least that lessens my worries a bit. What is your suspicion about his sudden knowledge of ninja techniques."

"He told me his father had been secretly training him since he was three years old, which is very probable considering how passionate my husband is about being a ninja. I've checked his room and found his secret stash of jutsu scrolls under a mild genjutsu. All of them haven't been opened for several years now. I also found his jutsu notes and the last entry has been days before my husband died."

"So, are you telling me that the main reason Naruto turned his back on being a ninja, despite the fact that he was already quite efficient at it due to his secret training he undertook, is because of the death of the Yondaime?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but it seems to be the most logical explanation on his sudden change of attitude all those years ago. When his father died, a part of Naruto had died with him. And that near death experience a month ago had somehow helped him see things in perspective."

"Is that what you really think?"

"No." Akane said quietly. When she saw the question on the Sandaime's lips, she cut him off and said, "But I don't think I could tell you my reason as of yet. All I ask is that you trust me that this change would be good for the village."

"Is that what your instincts is telling you?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Then I will not dwell further into his skills until such time it becomes relevant." The Sandaime said seriously, making his decision. Then he said in a more cheerful tone, "Where is Naruto, by the way?"

"I think he's sleeping in my husband's study at the moment. He'd been spending all his time there since we got home. He's been trying to finish Arashi's seal for Naomi. But I'm not hoping for much since even Jiriaya-sama can't seem to figure out how to make it work. But he seems to be dead set on doing it."

"Maybe I should also take a look at his progress and see if he have something that might help my old student to crack that seal."

"I guess. I'll show you to the study room." She said as she lead the Sandaime to her husband's study. When she got there, she saw that both Naruto and Naomi were not there. "That's strange. I was sure they were just here an hour ago."

The Sandaime looked around the study and saw how messy it was. There were scrolls everywhere, and notes were posted at the walls. He walked towards the desk in the middle of the room and picked up one of more recently made notes, and then gasp upon reading the contents.

"What's wrong, Hokage-sama?" Akane asked concerned.

The Sandaime didn't answer at first since he immediately went over to the other notes around the study and comparing it to the one he first read. Then, he turned towards the young woman and said in a grave tone, "This notes. The seals involve here are not meant to regulate Naomi's chakra system."

Akane looked at the sample seals drawn in the scrolls and asked, "Then what are these seals meant to do?"

Akane was about to ask what the seal Naruto was working on is for when a sudden burst of extremely powerful chakra wave hit them like a ton of bricks. Both Akane and the Sandaime was floored by such a high amount of power this chakra had because both knew that these was the same chakra they felt eleven years ago during Kyuubi's attack. No doubt everyone else with in several mile radius felt the same chakra wave.

Did Naruto actually went and tampered with the seal? If he did, then it would be the best time for the Kyuubi to use this to escape and once more wreck havoc to the world.

As soon as the shock wave begun to die down, both shinobi rushed towards the source of the wave. Rushing through the village, it seems that no one was spared from the after effects of the shock wave. Almost every civilians, and quite a lot of shinobis who were old enough to be there during the Kyuubi's attack was panicking while those in the recent generations were quite curious and afraid of the strange chakra they have never felt before.

They arrived at the scene, which was a vast space of open land west of the village, to find other shinobis already there preparing themselves for the battle that might come. But instead of the vast grassland it used to be, it was now a giant circular crater approximately fifty feet in diameter and twenty feet deep. In the middle of the crater was a roaring tower of red chakra.

A shadow started moving from within the chakra fire itself. Konoha ninjas were already preparing to launch a hail of kunais at it when the Hokage immediately ordered them to stand down and wait.

The roaring tower of chakra begun to die down and the shadow was starting to take shape. Soon enough, the chakra disappeared and there in the middle of where it used to be stands a naked Uzumaki Naruto. In his arms is his equally naked and unconscious sister, only, she doesn't look to be four years old anymore. Instead, she looks more like an eight years old healthy girl. But the most noticeable things about them is the Yondaime's Seals glowing in red and blue for everyone to see.

"Naruto! Naomi!" Came Akane's concerned voice as she rushed towards her children.

"Mother, STOP!" shouted Naruto in concern, causing his mother to stop in her tracks. "Don't come any closer. You might get incinerated. It's not safe yet." As proof of what he said, a lone leaf blew towards him and landed in his shoulder. Seconds later, the leaf burst into flame and was nothing more than ash a second later.

"W-what's going on? What happened?" Akane asked, fear and concern evident in his voice.

It was just then that the Sandaime arrived at her side. He put a hand on her shoulder to calm her a bit before turning towards the blond boy with a concern expression on his face. "Naruto-kun. Please tell me what you did and how long before the effects of whatever it is you did wears off." He said in a calm voice yet broke no argument.

"Hey there, Hokage-jiji. Haven't seen you in a while." Naruto said with a genuine grin, which actually surprised the old man since Naruto hadn't refer to him with such genuine warmth since the Yondaime's death, before saying, "I just shared Kitsune with her. Took a lot out of me since I had to release all of Kyuubi's chakra for a split second before resealing it for both me and Naomi. But now we wouldn't have to worry about her chakra coil system anymore since Kyuubi is on the job."

"W-what do you mean, son?" Akane asked, a tinge of hope rising from her stomach.

"She's cured, mom. Naomi would be able to grow up normally from now on. Well, as much as any vessel for the most powerful of the Tailed Beasts would." He said sheepishly with a proud smile. Then, his knees buckled from the combined weight of himself and his sister. He could already feel the adrenaline leaving him, thus, forcing him to shiver from the sudden breeze of cold late morning air. It seems that the effects of the sealing have left Naomi as well when she started to shiver herself. He graced Naomi with a smile and tightened his hold on her to keep her warm. He was already breathing hard now, and his consciousness starting to leave him. So he turned towards the Sandaime and his mother and said in a cheerful voice, "I think it's safe to get closer now."

Akane didn't need to be told twice and immediately rushed towards her children. She had tears of joy in her eyes as she took Naomi in one arm and gave her son a hug with the other, a hug which Naruto returned with equal vigor.

After a few moments of family bonding, Naruto turned a cheeky grin to the Sandaime and said, "Hokage-jiji, could you order someone to go and get a blanket or something. In case you didn't notice, I'm tired, cold, and wearing nothing but my birthday suit in front of the entire shinobi population of Konoha."

"Very well. Of coarse you do realize that we would need to talk about all of this later." The Sandaime said calmly. When Naruto gave him a nod, he turned to his subordinates and started giving orders.

Seeing that everything seems to be fine now, Naruto decided that it was just the right time to fall face first into the ground and let unconsciousness take him.

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The first thing Naomi saw when she opened her eyes was a dimly lit, damp, subterranean tunnel with red and blue pipes. She tried to remember where his brother went and how she got here. The last thing she did remember is her brother telling her last night that he finally found a cure for her and that she would need her to trust him. She gave him a nod that night and he drew some funny markings on her stomach with some red and black ink using a small brush. He said it was to help her get better. Then, bright and early the next day, he took her out of the village and performed a weird jutsu on her. The last thing she saw was a form of a large fox emerging behind her brother before she finally fainted.

And now, despite the fact that she found herself alone and in a strange place she'd never been to before, she felt quite relaxed here, as if she'd been to this place so many times before.

She tried standing up and was a bit surprised when she noticed that she seems to be a bit taller now. She looked at her hands and found them a bit bigger as well. She didn't even know where she got the plain yellow kimono with a white sash that she was wearing. Shrugging her shoulder, she started walking through the tunnels with no clear destination in mind. She didn't even noticed a yellow colored pipe starting to appear along the red pipes and the blue pipes.

It didn't take long for Naomi to arrive in front of a very large, majestically decorated, gold-plated bar gate. She tried touching the bars but they suddenly shifted away, letting her hand pass through the gate. Taking her hands back, the bars shifted once more, returning to their original form. She put her hands through again and the bars shifted once more. When she took her hand back, the bars returned to being solid again. After repeating the process several times, she paused and finally said, "This is fun!"

Putting on a mischievous grin, Naomi jumped towards the gate, hoping to catch the bars before they shifted. But the bars themselves seems to react faster than she does so she ended up falling face first on the ground on the other side of the bar.

"Owwie!" She said as she tried to stand up using one hand since the other one is busy trying to numb the pain on her nose.

"AHEM!" Came the impatient cough of someone in front of her.

When Naomi looked up to see who it is, she was awed at the sight of a very beautiful woman with vibrant red hair and ruby red eyes. She was wearing a crimson red kimono with black sash. But the most noticeable thing about her is the pair of fox ears on her head and nine furry foxy tails behind her.

"So, you are my new vessel." The fox lady said in a rather intimidating tone, flexing her claws as if readying to swipe her neck open to death with the slightest hint of disrespect. "Do you know who I am, child?" she asked royally.

Naomi blinked. Then she blinked again. She rubbed her eyes with both hands and stared at the fox lady up and down before blinking again.

The Kyuubi smirked at the dumbfounded look on the human child's face. The little girl must have been stunned with awe at her presence. She was expecting this child to scream in fear, quake in fright, or even bow down before her magnificence. But she never expected the little girl to squeal, "KAWAII!" in delight and latch onto one of her tails.

The demon fox, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the most powerful of all the Tailed Beasts, a being that has roam the world for more than 5000 years, face faulted. That's right, the fox managed to face fault at the cold hard ground because this single human girl had managed to surprise her so much that she momentarily lost all sense of self for a split second.

When she finally managed to get herself up, she saw Naomi playing with her tail and slinging it around her neck like a scarf. The Kyuubi admits that the little girl does look adorable being so clueless and innocent like that, but she immediately shook her head to get those thoughts out of her mind. She was about to reprimand the girl, painfully, but stopped at the sound of laughter in the immediate area. Turning around, she saw Naruto, in his eleven years old form, laughing himself to death just outside the gate.

She gave him a feral growl but Naruto merely brushed the silent threat off and cooed at her saying, "You gotta admit, Kitsune, the fox gears do make you look cute."

There was a threat and insult ready from the fox but Naomi managed to cut her off before she could voice it out.

"Naru-nii-chan!" Naomi shouted in glee as she run to her older brother's arm. "Look, onii-chan! That lady there has weird ears and tails. Can I have one too?"

The fox was glowering at the blunt disrespect she was receiving but Naruto merely gave her a smile before smiling down at his sister and saying, "You will, Naomi. But to get them, you have to work very hard, everyday, for several years. Also, you have to impress your new roommate since you'll need her approval if you want to get those ears and tails."

"Roommate?" the little girl asked.

Naruto nodded and turned towards the slightly curious fox lady, causing Naomi to turn to her as well. "Naomi, let me introduce you to Kyuubi no Kitsune, most powerful among the Tailed Beasts, and your new roommate for life." He knew he was laying it thick with the title but it seems to have the desired effect.

The Kyuubi puff her chest proudly and waited for the little girl's reaction at knowing that such a powerful being now resides inside her. But once again, the little human girl managed to surprise her.

"KIT-CHAN!" Naomi squealed in delight before glomping the fox lady by her belly and saying, "CanIpleasegetthesameearsandtailslikeyoupleasepleasepleaseplease!"

The Kyuubi was dumbfounded, Naruto was laughing in hysterics, and Naomi was still saying 'please' over and over again. She growled at the laughing male and was just about to say no to the child glomping her when Naomi unleashed the dreaded PDE (Puppy Dog Eyes) no jutsu on her. Suffice to say, even the most powerful of the Tailed Beasts wasn't immune to such a dreaded technique.

"Fine, brat! If I find you worthy enough, I shall grant you those features." The Kyuubi said finally.

Naomi squealed in delight and gave her another crushing hug before going back to her brother and telling him how utterly cute she will be when she gets her fox ears and tails. Both Naruto and the Kyuubi tried to picture an energetic Naomi with the said fox features and agreed that she would definitely look cute with it. There's no doubt pending off boys would be a big problem when she grows up.

Naruto pat his sister on the head gently, stopping her delightful rant for the moment, and said, "Now then, Naomi-chan, I think it's time all three of us talk about what really happened and how things would be from now on."

"Okay, Naru-nii-chan." She said.

When Naruto saw the Kyuubi gave her consent as well, he snapped his fingers and a tea table with three chairs appeared out of thin air. As soon as all three of them are seated, the meeting begun.

Said meeting took a while.

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Hyuuga Hiashi arrived in the hospital seeing the Hokage standing in the hallway in front of a room guarded by four ANBU. He knew that whatever it is the Hokage wanted with him, it had something to do with the Kyuubi's chakra wave that happened a few hours ago. He bowed respectfully at the Hokage and said formally, "I have come as requested, Sandaime-same. What is it you need of me?"

"Ah, Hiashi-dono. I would like your expertise on looking at someone's chakra coil system with your Byakugan. I need total disclosure on this. No one is to know of the finding until my say so." The old man said in a very serious tone that hadn't been heard for years.

Hiashi managed to keep his surprise hidden behind his stoic face and said, "As you command, Hokage-sama."

At the Hokage's nod, both men entered the room to find Akane sitting in a chair placed between two beds which contained her children.

Hiashi couldn't help letting out a gasp at seeing Kazama Naomi in an eight years old body. Last he'd heard, Naomi's chakra disease prevented her body from developing past her four years old physical state.

"Hokage-sama. Hiashi-dono." Akane greeted with a respectful bow.

"Akane-san, Hiashi is here to look at your daughter's chakra coil system to see if there are any problems."

"As long as I am privy to all information which concerns my children, then I don't see any problem." Akane said in a stern voice.

"Agreed." The Hokage said before giving a nod to Hiashi.

The Hyuuga Clan Head stepped towards the unconscious girl and nodded at her mother before activating his Byakugan. He gasped once more upon seeing a modified Shiiki Fuujin on her stomach. He turned to the Hokage and started to ask, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yes. Naruto-san had split the seal of the Kyuubi with his sister. Now, Hiashi-san, please tell us what you see." The Hokage ordered.

He turned back towards the girl. After studying her for a few minutes, he said, "Amazing! I can see the Kyuubi's red chakra within the seal but the seal itself is gradually changing her entire chakra coil system. Not only is it remaking it from scratch, it's making her coils wider, stronger, and overall more efficient. And the chakra she's giving off is not blue anymore, it's yellow in color."

"What does that mean? Is my daughter all right?" Akane asked in concern.

"Do not worry, Akane-san. As far as I can see, your daughter's body is reacting well to the yellow chakra. I suspect that it was the cause of your daughter's current physical state. All in all, I'd say that she's a normal, healthy, eight years old girl, barring the seal and the color of her chakra of coarse." Hiashi said before deactivating his Byakugan.

"T-then that means, she's cured! He did it. My son cured her!" Akane said, tears of joy flowing down her cheeks as she held her children hands in hers.

"Excuse me, Akane-san, but are you saying your eleven years old son did this seal? I find it hard to believe. The chakra requirements alone are tremendous, not to mention the precision of chakra control needed to perform such a task." Hiashi said, disbelief evident in his voice.

It was the Hokage who had answered for her and said, "Although it seems hard to believe, it was Naruto who modified Arashi's unfinished seal and performed the sealing since, according to his notes, only the original carrier of the seal would be able to split his/her seal with someone else. I'm sure you know of that particular seal as well since I once asked your clan if you could make it work."

"Yes, I remember how much time the clan scholars spent trying to modify it but we never did." Hiashi then gave Akane an apologetic look and said, "I am sorry my clan wasn't able to help you that time, Akane-san."

"It's all right, Hiashi-dono. I appreciated your help nonetheless." Akane said gratefully.

"I wonder how Naruto-san managed to split his seal?" Hiashi asked mostly to himself.

"Yes, I was wondering about that too. His notes on it mostly consists on the general effects of the seal, but he didn't write down the specifics." The Sandaime said.

"Where are those notes now, Hokage-sama?" Hiashi asked, genuinely curious.

"They are still at the Kazama Estate. I had two squads of ANBU guarding the place to prevent anyone from taking them." The Sandaime said. He then graced the two Kazama children with a warm smile. "Well, I guess all we could do at the moment is wait for them to recover. Akane-san, I hope you wouldn't mind if I leave some of my ANBU here to guard you and your children."

"It's alright, Hokage-sama. And thank you." She said gratefully.

The Hokage gave her a smile and left along with Hiashi. Once she was alone, she glanced at her children and smiled, thinking of the future Naomi now have thanks to Naruto.

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	4. Chapter 4

DATE STARTED: September 7, 2006 

TITLE:

GENRE: Dimension-Travel Action/Adventure/Romance

SUMMARY: After a final attempt to turn the tides of war against an Orochimaru, Naruto suddenly woke up in a Konoha where the villagers saw him as a hero but all his precious people only saw him as a spoiled brat and a nuisance. But the biggest surprised of all is that a mother he had never knew was alive, and that he also has a younger sister with a terminal illness. Can he cope with this new world before him? Can he regain the trust of his precious people once again? And would he be able to defeat the Orochimaru of this world?

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**CHAPTER 4**

Nara Shikamaru walks solemnly inside the hospital with his father. Having walked through the same hallways for the past week, he knew exactly where to go, but it's still an unpleasant feeling knowing his destination.

When both Nara arrived at the ICU Section of the hospital, the first thing they saw was Yamanaka Inoichi watching through a glass observation window of the said room.

"How is she?" Nara Shikato asked as he put his hand on a haggard looking Yamanaka Inoichi's shoulder. Both men were looking through the looking glass of the ICU room where Yamanaka Ino was being tended by several medic nins and an elder Yamanaka, whom all specializes in mind jutsus.

"Still in a coma. The Kyuubi's chakra is still preventing us from entering her mind."

Shikamaru, looking through the same glass window, couldn't help but notice how different Ino looks at the moment. It was so strange to see the usually loud and bossy girl so quiet.

It has been a week since the Kyuubi's chakra wave. There were quite a lot of Konoha citizens that had been admitted to the hospital due to stress, strokes, and plain nervous breakdowns. But Ino is a special case.

**-----flashback (1 hour before the chakra wave)-----**

"Are you sure you're ready for this, Pumpkin?" Yamanaka Inochi asked as she leads his daughter towards the Yamanaka House's ceremonial chamber.

"I'm ready, Daddy!" Ino said with a determined look in her eyes.

Inoichi was proud that his daughter wanted to start on the family legacy a year earlier than expected, but he was also a bit disappointed at her reason for doing so.

The Yamanaka's Rite of Passage is a ceremony that every Yamanaka goes through in order to activate their Bloodline Limit. The process includes a senior Yamanaka member to jumpstart the younger one's brain so they could gain access to the Mind Arts, which is essential in learning Yamanaka Bloodline Limit jutsu.

Yes, Inoichi was proud of his little girl. He just wishes she wasn't doing this for the sole purpose of impressing her school crush. But still, he was grateful for giving her the initiative to learn more about her family's arts.

A few minutes later, father and daughter entered a small windowless chamber underneath the house. There was noting else in the chamber except for a rectangular mat in the middle of the floor, several lanterns by the walls, and lots of ofuda (designed to block chakra from entering the room) all over the walls and ceiling.

After closing the door behind them, Inoichi went through several hand seals to activate the ofudas, isolating the room from any outside chakra influences.

Since her father had already briefed her about the entire ceremony, Ino immediately sat Indian style on the mat in the middle of the room and started meditating to open up her mind. According to her father, this was the longest part of the ceremony, since opening one's mind could take hours.

Sitting in front of his daughter, Inoichi watched as his daughter scrunched up her face in concentration. Using a mind scanning jutsu, he saw that her daughter's mind is already starting to open up, but it would still take time for her mind to open up fully.

Almost an hour had passed before Ino's mind was ready. Going through several hand seals, the senior Yamanaka was preparing to send chakra to his daughter's mind when he felt the chakra wave before it hit, burning out all the ofudas around the room keeping foreign chakra out.

"INO!" Her father shouted in panic when the red chakra wav hit his daughter, slamming her against the far wall. A moment later, the chakra wave receded but the damage has been done. Checking his daughter, Inoichi saw that there wasn't much external damage done except for a slight concussion. But the real damage is done to her mind. Quickly going through several hand seals, Inoichi tried to enter his daughter's mind to repair any damage done to her, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get passed the red chakra surrounding her mindscape.

Having nothing else he could do, Inoichi picked up his daughter and ran towards the hospital.

**-----End flashback-----**

Shikamaru knows who's responsible, heck the entire village knew. Kazama Naruto, or the Kyuubi Brat as most Leaf shinobi calls him, just had to tamper with the seal. Although he heard the rumors that the brat had a recent attitude adjustment, it was still quite irresponsible for him not to alert anyone of what he was planning, even if it was to cure his own sister of her chakra disease.

Eavesdropping on the adults' conversations, Shikamaru found out that the Yamanaka Clan's Rite of Passage, the trainee's mind is at his/her most vulnerable state and is quite prone to foreign chakra influence, and such influence as the Kyuubi no Kitsune's yokai could have devastating effects on such a mind. And now, several specialists on mind jutsus are gathered here to determine whether or not she could be saved or not.

Shikamaru wasn't a fool. Having an IQ of 200, he was aware of the fear that now resides in the village of Konoha concerning the Demon Fox. If Ino turns out to be influenced by the fox, then she could turn into a target of the Council's ire. If that happens, the best case scenario would be a swift death, otherwise she would be turned into some kind of lab experiment.

He wished he could do something, but what can he do. He's not even a genin yet and since the chakra wave a week ago, Kazama Naruto had been under 24 hour surveillance under the ANBU. He desperately wants to have a talk with the brat so he could at least find out if the said brat could really control the Kyuubi's chakra, the same chakra that are preventing the medics from helping his childhood friend.

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**-----Inside Ino's Mindscape-----**

"Help me! Somebody, please! Please, help me!" Yamanaka Ino had stopped running since she found herself trapped in this world of darkness and red. Everywhere she goes, there was nothing but darkness, that and the malevolent red chakra that had been slowly eating up everything. Very soon, everything would be consumed, including her.

Crying for her own helplessness, she sat down and hugged her knees to her chest. The red chakra was barely a few feet away from her now and there was no escape. With the last of her hope, she pleaded quietly into the void, "Please, someone, anyone, help me."

As if an answer to her plea, a giant orb of blue chakra suddenly emerged from the red. The orb put itself between her and the red around her, protecting her from the malevolent influence.

With renewed hope, Ino immediately latched onto the orb and let herself be absorbed into its blue depth, never realizing how it would change her life forever.

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**BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!**

"What the hell?" The Bear ANBU, who's guarding the door to the Kazamas' room, asked in alarm as several explosions rocked the entire hospital just before he and his partner was hit by a shower of kunais.

As soon as the two guards hit the floor dead, four ninjas bearing the symbol of Iwakagure rushed inside the room, where another four Iwa shinobi awaits along with the corpse of two other Konoha ANBU.

"Phase one and two complete. Secure your packages and rendezvous at Root HQ." The leader ordered. In less than half a minute, both Kazama children are held and secured in specially designed body sacks. With a wave of the leader's hand, two 3-man groups jumped out the window and rushed away two different directions with their two unconscious hostages.

The leader, along with another shinobi, proceeded with phase four of the plan, destroying the entire hospital to serve as a distraction to give the two groups enough time to escape.

Both shinobi were about to move when the door suddenly burst open and a young blue eyed, blond haired girl, wearing a hospital gown, walked slowly inside.

The leader tensed at the vacant look on the girls face. She wasn't even looking at him. She was looking at the broken window where group two, who have Kazama Naruto with them, had jumped through.

When the girl turned her blue eyes at him, the leader acted immediately and threw several kunais at her, only to be intercepted by the other shinobi's body.

The leader blanched at the unexpected action of his own subordinate, that is until he noticed the blond girl's outline on his subordinate. _"Fuck! She's a Yamanaka! She possessed my subordinate to save herself."_ he thought. Although, he never dreamed a girl her age was capable of such an advance technique.

The leader was already drawing another set of kunais before the other guy hit the floor dead. He was about to throw it when his entire body stiffened. Trying to find the source of his immobility, he saw a young boy with a pineapple like hairstyle, out the doorway on his knees with his hands forming a hand seal. "I don't really know what's going on but it would be quite troublesome if I let you hurt her."

Ino didn't even seem to notice her childhood friend saving her from death. She walked towards the immobilized leader and pointed a finger towards his face, particularly his forehead.

"P-package one through route 24-A, and package two through route 33-C. . . Root HQ Sector twelve at Konoha-Iwa boarder. . . Lighting Country . . . Kyuubi Vessel Experimentations. . . kidnapping to be blamed towards Iwagakure . . . Danzo-sama . . ."

Suddenly, the enemy shinobi started convulsing. Feeling his own body involuntarily convulse, Shikamaru called back his shadow technique just in time for the enemy shinobi to suddenly stop his convulsion and drop down the floor like a sack of potatoes with Ino following him in unconsciousness a second later. Luckily for her, Shikamaru was there to catch her before she fell.

Just then, the Hokage, along with several ANBU squad leaders, as well as Inoishi and Shikato, arrived at the scene.

"What the hell happened here? Ino! Is she alright?" Inoichi asked as he immediately went towards his daughter.

"Nara Shikamaru, can you tell me what has happened here?" The Hokage asked mildly. But there was no mistaking for the steel in his voice.

Gulping in nervousness for a moment, he started to say, "I was at the ICU room downstairs visiting Ino here when an explosion sounded all over the hospital. My dad went to investigate with Ino's father. A few minutes later, Ino suddenly woke up from her coma and started walking towards here. I followed her and saw the two bodies outside the door and an enemy shinobi taking the hits for her. I used the Kagemune no Jutsu to immobilize the ninja there. While I was holding him, Ino pointed her finger at the guy's forehead before he started convulsing. He mumbled phrases like 'package one through route 24-A, and package two through route 33-C. . . Root HQ Sector twelve at Konoha-Iwa boarder. . . Lightning country . . .Kyuubi Vessel Experimentations. . . kidnapping to be blamed towards Iwagakure . . . Danzo-sama . . .'. And then he fell unconscious. Then, you guys came."

One of the ANBU unmasked the two incapacitated shinobis. After going through several identification jutsus, he said, "Identity of Himena Shito, jounin of the ROOT Division, confirmed. Initial diagnosis shows extreme mind stress."

The Hokage nodded his head in confirmation before turning his eyes to the still unconscious Ino. If he guesses correct, then the young Yamanaka had used some kind of mind jutsu on the enemy. But considering her age and, at the moment, her non-existing knowledge on her family techniques, it was impossible for her to perform those said techniques, unless she was highly influenced by her father.

Putting those thoughts away for a moment, the Sandaime concentrated on the current crisis and said, "ANBU Team 1 through five, proceed with retrieval of both Kazama Naruto and Naomi. Start with Route 24-A and 33-C. Yamanaka Inoichi, take Ino-san back to ICU and get her report on the scene as soon as she is able. Nara Shikato, bring Himena Shito to Ibiki and tell him to get everything he knows. Assist him if necessary. ANBU Team 6 through 9, head to ROOT ANBU headquarters and arrest Danzo for possible treason. Dog," A dog-masked female ANBU stepped forward. "notify Kazama Akane of what happened and make sure she understand that I am ordering her to head straight to me for further orders." Then he added mentally with a shiver, remembering the said woman's Tsunade-like strength when pissed, _"May Kami have mercy on their souls once she gets her claws on those people responsible for kidnapping her children."_

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE? AND WHERE ARE MY KIDS?" came the intense voice of a woman behind them.

The Hokage Sandaime gulped silently upon seeing the irritated, yet, worried face of one Kazama Akane standing by the door. Thinking of the best way to handle the situation, the Sandaime decided to use his diplomatic voice and said, "Akane-san, please calm down and,"

But the Kazama matriarch cut him off and shouted furiously, "WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN?"

Everyone in the room took an involuntary step back from the enrage woman who's giving off enough killer intent to drown the entire hospital.

The Sandaime really hated doing this to someone he almost considers his own daughter but the situation seems to call for it. Standing his full height and giving off a burst of his own charka, he faced the enraged woman and said in his official-Hokage voice, "Kazama-san, your children had been abducted by renegade ninjas."

Akane gasped upon hearing that bit of news, concern for her children safety evident in her eyes. She was about to demand where they were taken but the Hokage cut her off and said in a menacing voice, "As leader of this village and everyone residing within it, I am ordering you under house arrest until this situation is resolved. I will not have an enrage mother make this already delicate situation worse than it already is. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

Akane gasped upon seeing the old man she almost consider a father shout at her like that. Her already stressed mind, combined with the Sandaime's order preventing her from going after her children, just decided to snapped right there and then.

_"I am needed."_

_"NO! I won't let you out! I sealed you away for a reason!"_

_"Can you risk the safety of your children to others?"_

Akane stayed silent, having no answer to that.

_"Remember, those children are as much mine as they are yours. I WILL assure their safety."_

With the last of her protests crumbling, she let herself fall back.

The Sandaime Hokage, already expecting what is to come, braced himself accordingly. He had already put up a hand telling all the ANBU in the room to stand down before they had a chance to react to the sudden pressure of chakra emitted by the now silent woman.

Every ANBU tensed when Akane's brown hair suddenly started turning bright red. When she turned her now cold and calculating cerulean eyes once more to the Sandaime, she asked in a frozen cold voice, "Hokage-sama."

The Sandaime merely held his hand in the air telling his ANBU to stand down before turning towards the red head and saying, "Uzumaki Kushina-san, it's been a while."

Whispers emitted among the older ANBU members while the younger members were asking themselves where they heard the name before.

"I-is that really Uzumaki Kushina?"

"I thought Kushina-sama died in the Kyuubi attack?"

"Can she really be the famous Whirlpool's Empress of Storm?"

"E-Empress of Storm, you mean the same Empress of Storm that is said to have a confirm kill count second only to Yondaime-sama during the Leaf-Stone War?"

"Who would have thought the Empress of Storm would be Yondaime-sama's wife?"

"No wonder Yondaime-sama chose her as his wife."

Those who knew of the Empress of Storm exploits during the war were in awe at seeing the legendary ninja back to life, while most of the younger ANBU were skeptical about the short woman being capable of the things the veteran ninjas say about her. I mean, who would believe that the short, red-headed woman had single-handedly managed to stall five Iwa ANBU battalion from crossing through Fire Country's boarders for two whole days, having a confirm kill of seventy two Iwa jounins, before reinforcements arrived to finish the rest of them two days later?

Ignoring the whispers around them, as he was sure Kushina was doing, turned to the red-head's cold, calculating eyes. The Sandaime gave an internal sigh of relief when his gamble paid off in forcing Uzumaki Kushina back to the surface from where Akane had originally sealed her off inside her subconscious after the war. He just hopes he won't regret this decision in the future.

Everyone tensed when Kushina moved once more. She took one step towards the Hokage before kneeling down in front of him with her head bowed down and asking in that same cold voice, "What are my orders?"

The Sandaime eyed her for a moment before saying, "Retrieval of abducted citizens of the Leaf. Intelligence says that one is headed for the Iwa-Konoha boarder, route A-24. I will have someone else do the retrieval for the one heading for the Lightning country."

The Sandaime could feel her body tense involuntarily upon hearing that she could only go after one of her two children for the time being. Even if she managed to create a Kage Bushin strong enough to travel all the way to Cloud, the clone won't be able go against several Root ANBU without getting poof out of existence with a single lucky shot.

Contemplating the same conclusion, Kushina's brain went a hundred miles an hour thinking of the best possible way to ensure her other child's safety. Finally thinking of one, she raised her head and look directly at the old man's eyes before saying, "Dolphin"

Whispers broke out from the ANBU in the room once more. The Konoha ANBU code name 'Dolphin' was another legend through out the ninja underworld. A newly instated ANBU who was thought to have been killed during an information gathering mission into Lightning country six years ago, only to re-emerged two years later near the end of Lightning country's bloody civil war. Rumors say that he was the one who fought and killed the corrupt and powerful Godaime Raikage in a battle that ended the said civil war. Nobody was sure what happened to him afterwards but rumor has it that he either retired as a civilian after he got back to Konoha or had migrated at the Hidden Village in the Cloud as one of the Rukodime Raikage's top adviser.

The Sandaime eyed her for a moment before saying, "You know perfectly well that Dolphin is retired and would likely refuse to carry out any mission given to him, even by me."

"Tell him, that Kazama Akane had lied two years ago, and the answer to his question is yes." She said in the same cold voice.

The Sandaime, as well as the rest of the people inside the room, gave her a questioning glanced, but Kushina didn't elaborate more on it.

Giving her a nod, he said, "Very well. Perpetrators are ROOT ANBU disguised as Iwa nins. Proceed with your mission as you see fit. Use extreme prejudice if necessary. Squad one would serve as your back up until you reach the boarder. When you decide to pursue through Iwa territory, you will be on your own. Now go."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Then, with in a blink of an eye, she was gone, vowing to succeed in this mission no matter what the cost. ANBU squad one followed her example a second later.

When she was gone, one of the younger ANBU squad leaders stepped forward and asked, "Sir, is it wise to let her go alone once she crosses the boarder? With this much head start, the perpetrators would reach the boarder in under a day."

The Sandaime sighed before saying, "I know. But knowing her, not even the threat of starting a new war with Iwa could stop her from pursuing her children's kidnappers when, not if, when they cross the boarder." Then he turned towards the rest of the people in the room and said in his official Hokage voice, "Squad two through eight, proceed to Root HQ and arrest everyone there for questioning, especially Danzo. Squad nine, proceed to route C-33. If the perpetrators manage to cross over the boarder, do not engage. You are to remain there until further orders."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Once they were gone, the Sandaime turned to the only other person in the room and said, "Dog, get me the fastest messenger bird to Kumo we have and report to my office immediately."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." And she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

"Sir, all floors above ground had been searched thoroughly and was all found empty, as well as the two first sub floors. Team four had managed to locate the entrance to the 3rd and 4th sub basement and are now searching through them. So far, we encountered four ROOT ANBU and received only minimum damage before thwarting their ambushes." The ANBU lieutenant said to his white cloaked ANBU commander.

The commander nodded and asked, "Have there been any traces of Danzou?"

"None, sir. It seems they've already made plans to escape in case things don't go as planned. We're still trying to figure out how they managed to get all their forces out without us noticing."

Suddenly, their radio turned up and an urgent voice said loudly, "THIS IS SQUAD FIVE REQUESTING IMMEDIATE BACK UP AT THE FOURTH SUB BASEMENT! I REPEAT, SQUAD FIVE REQUESTING IMMEDIATE BACK UP! IT'S A WARZONE DOWN HERE!" 

Acting immediately, both the commander and his lieutenant dashed towards the stairs heading for the sub basement. Once they got to the fifth level, they saw seven of their ANBU, three of which are from squad five while the rest are from squad four, fending off an entire room of black and white-colored animals, like tigers, eagles, dogs, lions, etc, attacking them. Not wasting any time, the commander drew his katana from his back and slashed an incoming lion, which burst into ink a second later. 

Analyzing the scene, he noticed that some of the ink summon animals are converge on one spot at the other side of the room. That must be where the one controlling these things is. He also saw that three of his own ANBU have been pulled out from the fight by his lieutenant due to injuries. Turning back to his subordinates, he started making hand signs while he yelled, "Everyone, get back in my mark." Finishing the last seal, he then shouted, "Now!" before placing his palms on the floor.

As soon as the other ANBU leaped back, small wooden vines burst out of the ground impaling more than half of the creatures and turning them to ink. After that, the commander charged the spot where he thought the summoner is while his men charge at the remaining ink animals.

Slashing any animal that got in his way, the commander swing his katana with intent to kill the summoner immediately, only to stop his sword when he finally got a good look at the ink summoner. 

"A child?" he asked in disbelief seeing a raven-haired boy, maybe ten or so in age, standing in front of an unconscious wounded ROOT ANBU, with a scroll and ink brush in his hands. 

The boy didn't even bat an eye at the blade mere half an inch from his neck. He merely gave the ANBU commander a blank stare. There was no emotion in the boy's eyes as far as the commander could see. 

Thinking quickly, the commander slashed the scroll the boy was holding, unsummoning all the ink animals from the room. The boy's stare never wavered. 

While the other ANBU went to see the condition of their fellow members, which got caught in the ink summoner's ambush, the commander studied the boy more carefully. There were no visible weapons on the boy except for that scroll that got slashed in two so he wasn't a threat anymore.

In all his life, never had he seen any child with total lack of emotion on their eyes. Is this what ROOT ANBU doing to their members, taking away all their emotions to be the perfect shinobi tools? Is this what Danzo was aiming for?

Shoving the thoughts of the emotionless boy aside for a moment, he started walking towards the wounded ROOT ANBU to examine him when the young boy suddenly stepped in front of commander, using himself as a shield for the wounded ROOT ANBU, the tiniest hint of anger now visible on the child's eyes.

The commander actually gave an internal sigh of relief seeing that the boy wasn't totally emotionless. "What is your name and why are you protecting him?"

"He is my older brother." The boy said in an emotionless flat tone. "And my name is Sai, a cadet in Danzo-sama's ROOT ANBU."

"Are those ink summons yours?"

"Hai."

"Were you ordered to stay behind?"

"No."

"I'm glad." The commander said before kneeling in front of the emotionless boy. "My name is Tenzou, ANBU commander. On my honor, I will make sure no harm comes to you or your brother if both of you cooperate with us."

For several moments, Sai merely stared at the masked commander. Then, finally, he nodded and stepped aside, allowing Tenzou to examine the unconscious ROOT ANBU. Finding a kunai wound on the unconscious man, he quickly performed some minor medical jutsu on the man before ordering his men, "Squad five, search the area for any more hostile. Squad four, tend to the injured. Lieutenant, come with me. We are taking the boy and his brother to the hospital."

"Hai." The lieutenant said carrying the injured man on his back while the commander picked up the boy Sai gently in his arms. Together, the teleported to the hospital.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**KUMOGAKURE PRISON **

Iruka sighed for the nth time as he gently stroked the hair of his adopted daughter, Nii Yugito sleeping with her head on his lap. It has been a few hours since the Raikage's personal Jounin squad suddenly barged into Kumo Civilian school and arrested him right during class. When he asked why he was being arrested, the Jounins stated that he was suspected of conspiring against the Raikage, which was totally ridiculous because the Raikage is his personal friend, and would never think of going against him. 

When he was brought to the prison, he was quite surprised when he found Yugito already there. She said she was arrested as well for being part of some conspiracy. Imagine how tense the entire prison was when the mild manner civilian teacher let out a killing intent that almost suffocated the entire prison. It was the mere fact that even Yugito was being affected that he stopped and merely went inside the cell with the young genin. 

Iruka sighed once more. He rarely have a relapse to his old self ever since the end of the civil war, particularly after he adopted the young blond haired girl. She was the reason why he decided to stay in Kumo despite regaining his lost memory. Besides, it's not like he have anything else to come back to where he originally came from.

His silent musing was interrupted when he felt a familiar chakra approaching. Looking out the cell doors, he saw the one person he had been itching to talk to ever since he was taken here. 

"Akira-sama. I hope you got a pretty good explanation for this." Iruka said in a hard tone.

The forty years old man in Kage robes with the symbol of lightning gave a sigh as he open the cell door and went inside taking a seat in a stool in front of Iruka and the sleeping girl. 

"Iruka-san, please believe me when I say that all of this had been necessary." He said, taking out a small scroll from his robes and giving it to the other man. 

Iruka immediately recognized the Konoha codes used in the message. But the contents of the message are what made Iruka gasped. Not only is it an order from the Hokage but his participation was requested by Kazama Akane herself. 

"As you can see, the message has been sent to me first so as Raikage, I would act in your behalf if you refuse to carry out such an order. What the Leaf doesn't know is that this kidnapping is much deeper than they know."

"What do you mean, Akira-sama?"

"Iruka-san, for the past few months, the Council of Kumo had been making secret deals with Danzou and his ROOT. He is offering something that Kumo had been trying to gain for the past several decades but couldn't quite get."

Iruka gasped. "You don't mean. . ."

"Yes. Danzou is offering the Byakugan, by means of both heiress of the Hyuuga Clan. Even as the Raikage, I can't go against all of Kumo. The Kyuubi vessel is a mere bonus compared to that particular kekkai genkai."

Silence came after that tidbit of information. Both men knew how dire the situation actually is. Then, after several minutes of silent contemplation, Iruka finally asked, "What do you want me to do, Akira-sama?"

The Raikage gave the younger man a sad smile before taking out a small scroll from his robes and giving it to the stunned man.

Iruka gasped. He recognized the scroll immediately, considering it was Iruka who gave that scroll to the Raikage as a vow of loyalty to a friend, as well as the leader of his new home. 

"Iruka-san, no, Konoha ANBU code name Dolphin, please heed one last order from me."

Iruka took the scroll in his hand and gave the Raikage his entire attention. 

"Please put on your mask once more, heed the Hokage's request, prevent Kumo from gaining the Byakugan, and please take Nii Yugito with you back to Konohagakure no Sato." The Raikage then dropped to his knees and bowed his head in front of the stunned Iruka. "I ask all this not only asa kage that is too weak to reign on his people, but also as a father to a daughter he left behind."

Iruka was shocked. He had heard the rumors about the Raikage being Yugito's biological father but never heed it much. Now the confirmation comes from the said father himself. 

He was save from answering immediately when Yugito stirred and opened her eyes. "Outo-san, what's going on? Raikage-sama, what are you doing here? What happened?"

For a moment both men were silent. Then, finally, Iruka turned to her, gave her a smile, and asked, "Yugito-chan, how would you like to move to Konoha with me?"

"Um, why? Don't get me wrong. Even if I never did consider Cloud my home, why there?"

"Because, to tell you the truth, there's something there I need to confirm, if only to give me closure. Besides, I'm quite sure you'll like it there." 

It took exactly five seconds for Yugito to make a decision and ask, "When do we leave?"

"As soon as I tie up some loose ends." Iruka said, opening the storage scroll and activating it. 

Yugito gasped when a very familiar white dolphin ANBU mask and light gray cloak appeared. The first time she saw it was when she the wearer of said items saved her and gave her a first glance of happiness throughout her entire life. For the nth time this past three years, she was extremely grateful for meeting her adoptive father.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**HOKAGE TOWER**

"So, Danzo escaped through a secret tunnel system under the ROOT Headquarters. This does not bode well." The Sandaime said as he leaned back tiredly on his chair after Tenzou finished his report.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. We tried following through the tunnel but we found it collapsed half way. Having most of the Hyuuga ANBU track it, we found the exit a couple of miles outside of Konoha near Route 33-C. We concluded that Danzo had taken his entire army with him to Kumo, leaving behind at least fifteen men as suicide bombers to cover his tracks. They would have blown up the entire building if my men didn't apprehend most of them on time."

"I see. What do you think of the young boy you found? What was his name again?"

"Sai, sir. No last names. He was one of the twenty cadets ranging from four to eleven years old being trained in secret as the perfect shinobi, by means of taking away their emotion or conditioning them as perfect decoys, at least that was what I've concluded from our investigations." The ANBU commander said, his voice clearly indicating his disgust of Danzou's methods of training children. "The young Sai managed to sneak away when he heard his older brother was to be left behind. According to the reports, one of my men managed to wound his older brother. Said brother was just about to perform a kamikaze run when Sai himself knocked his own brother out. Before he could escape with his brother, they were cornered by squad five and he was forced to retaliate by summoning ink animals. Sai is currently in the hospital watching over his brother along with squad three."

"I'm glad he wasn't completely turned by Danzou's methods. But still, why would he go to Kumo knowing Konoha have a secret alliance with its current Raikage ever since Kumo's civil war? What does he have to offer for safe passage through Kumo?" The Sandaime asked mostly to himself. Then, a thought hit him. _'No way! Danzou wouldn't do such a despicable act! But still, it's the most likely thing Danzou could offer to ensure his place in Kumo.'_

Tenzou almost took a step back from the sudden flare of anger in the Hokage's eyes. He gulped when the old man turned to him and said, "Tenzou, bring me Hyuuga Hiashi immediately. Make sure no one else but him see you."

Before the commander could answer, both he and the Hokage felt a familiar chakra approaching. Seconds later, the door to the office opened and in came Hyuuga Hiashi himself dragging an emotionless Hinata by her shoulder followed closely by his nephew Neji, who was carrying an unconscious Hanabi in his arms.

"Forgive our intrusions, Hokage-sama, but this is a matter of great importance." Hiashi said, barely concealing the rage he was feeling right at the moment. 

Looking at the rage of both the Hyuuga Clan head and the young Neji, then to the emotionless face of the Hyuuga heiress, the Sandaime own anger boiled at the true culprit, Danzou. "I think I know exactly what has happened. But please enlighten me nonetheless." The old man said.

"This child is an impostor. My daughters are missing and this child won't tell me where they were taken." Hiashi said in a tight voice, his hold on the impostor's shoulder tightening, earning an almost silent pained gasped from the child.

The Sandaime raised his hands, silently telling the Hyuuga Clan Head to stop hurting the ROOT agent, which Hiashi reluctantly obeyed. Despite who she is, she is still a child. 

"I believe you, Hiashi. But still, can you tell me what brought you to this conclusion?" The Sandaime asked.

"Hiashi-sama, if I may?" Neji asked. When his uncle nodded his head, Neji turned to the Hokage and said, "I first noticed something strange about this girl two days ago, when she didn't came to the kitchen to get her regular cup of decaf coffee. At first I thought she merely skip a night but when I confronted her the next day she said she merely forgot about it. Also, during our spar, she had hit me, actually shutting off one of my main tenketsu points. The real Hinata-sama would have panic at hurting me that way but this girl didn't even bat an eye. Then, this morning, I made a thorough scan on her with my Byakugan and saw some abnormalities in her Byakugan. Hanabi-sama was in the way so I accidentally made a scan of her as well. Although Hanabi doesn't have any abnormalities in her Byakugan, several parts of her skin, particularly on her face, show some alterations. That's when I told Hiashi-sama about my suspicions and my uncle confirmed it. Both heiress of the Main House have been replaced with doubles."

The Sandaime saw that the Hinata look-a-like already seems resigned to her fate, like a condemned man merely waiting his execution. "What is your name, child?" The Sandaime asked softly.

"My name is Hinata, Hokage-sama." The girl said in almost a whisper. No emotion but resignation in her voice. 

"Shut up!" Neji shouted in rage. "You're just an impostor! You're not Hinata!"

"Actually, she is. Or rather, that she had been called Hinata ever since she was brought to ROOT HQ. I don't think she even knows what her real name is anymore." Came a young voice from behind them.

Turning around, everyone saw the ANBU Lieutenant walking through the door with the young Sai beside him. 

"What do you mean, Sai?" Tenzou asked the young boy who spoke a minute ago.

"This girl, Hinata, had been brought to ROOT due to her physical similarities with Hyuuga Hinata. She was trained to be Hyuuga Hinata for this one purpose." Sai said in the same flat tone before turning to the unconscious Hanabi on Neji's arms. 

The Sandaime didn't failed to notice the first genuine sign of fear from the Hinata look-a-like when everybody's eyes turned to the unconscious little girl. 

"This one, on the other hand, had been conditioned to believe she is the real Hyuuga Hanabi." Sai said.

The Hyuuga men were about to retort when the Sandaime said to Sai, "Please explain further, child."

"Hanabi is a Hyuuga, just not Hyuuga Hanabi. It was said that her mother has been a chunin that went MIA a couple of years ago. But according to rumors within ROOT, her death was staged by orders of Danzou-sama for the purpose of breeding children with Byakugans to offer to Kumo. I have no information on why she wasn't offered to Kumo instead of being used as a decoy." Sai finished, his voice flat throughout his entire explanation.

"It is because Hanabi-chan never developed the Byakugan, despite her pupil-less white eyes." Came the soft voice of the Hinata look-a-like, earning the attention of everyone in the room. She turned to Hanabi for a moment before turning back to most of the people in the room before continuing, "She had been living under a genjutsu most of her life, making her believe she was living Hyuuga Hanabi's everyday life. She unknowingly had a few facial surgeries to make sure she looks exactly like Hyuuga Hanabi." 

"So what are you saying exactly?" The Sandaime asked.

"That Hanabi-chan is an innocent, despite her role on all of this." She then turned towards the Sandaime and kneeled before the old leader before saying, "Hokage-sama, I implore you, please spare her. She is a mere child caught in a conspiracy out of her control. She is innocent."

For a moment, every one in the room went silent to digest this latest information, the Hyuuga men in particular, who gave a glanced at the Hanabi look-a-like with a much softer look compared to earlier.

"I see. Then tell me, why just ask for her and not include yourself as well?" The Sandaime asked Hinata.

"To ask for myself would be mood point, considering I wouldn't last the next month." 

"Explain." The Sandaime ordered.

"Unlike Hanabi-chan, I was not born a Hyuuga. These eyes of mine have been implanted a month ago by order of Danzou-sama. The eyes are incompatible to my body and would inevitably cause my death in a month's time." 

There was almost a visible drop of temperature in the entire room. All the males present felt a cold fury bursting out of them for the one person responsible for this incident.

"Lieutenant, please escort Hinata-chan, Hanabi-chan, and Neji-kun outside for a moment. After that please take Sai back to the hospital to watch his brother. I would like to talk to him tommorow afternoon." The Sandaime said, trying to conceal his anger.

The lieutenant nodded and escorted thefour children out of the office before closing the door behind him. As soon as they were gone, Hiashi turned to the old man and said with a barely contained rage, "Hokage-sama, permission to join the rescue team as well as to take out Danzou and his ROOT."

"Denied. We wouldn't be able to catch up to him before he reached the boarder. I couldn't risk Konoha going to war with Kumo at the moment, especially now that there seems to be a political power struggle in Lightning country. Our first priority is to rescue both the Kazama and Hyuuga heirs. I already have one agent in Kumo and another on his way, one which has no tie to Konoha at the moment."

"Who are these agents, Hoakage-sama?" Hiashi asked, having his doubts that a mere two people would be able to go through Danzou's ROOT ANBU to rescue the kidnapped children.

"Dolphin and Weasel." 

Hiashi almost gasped. Both of those men were well known ex-ANBU. One was known as the hero of Kumo's civil war. The other a prodigy of the highest caliber with a dark past. Both are powerful shinobi of Konoha. Dolphin would make sure the children would get rescued while Weasel would make sure to eliminate anyone that gets in Dolhin's way. Sincew both men are not officially members of Konoha, the Hokage could easilly deny any action they take outside the country.

It was just then that Hiashi finally noticed another presence in the room. Turning to the corner, he saw a familiar young man stepping out of the shadows. 

"Uchiha Itachi." Hiashi said when he finally calmed down. 

The young Uchiha was wearing a standard ANBU with his weasel mask hanging on his belt. 

"Hiashi-dono." Itachi said in an emotionless tone, nodding his head in recognition. 

"Have you heard everything, Itachi-kun?" The Sandaime asked calmly.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. I am already in pursuit of the ROOT forces and would alter mission parameters accordingly." The young man said in a professional tone.

"Good. Our first priority is to rescue the children. Bringing back Danzou's head is optional. We will discuss your parole at your return."

"I would rather stay at my current status."

"Do you really think Akane-san would allow you your self-imposed punishment once you return with those children? The only reason she allowed you to stay there as long as you had is because Kushina believed that you needed this for your sanity."

For the first time, Itachi allowed a small smile appear on his face. "It is still quite strange to have two such personalities inhabiting one body. Despite that, both cares the same, just like Yondaime-sama."

"You are right, Itachi-kun. Is it a wonder that you chose to side with the Hokage instead of Fugaku and the Uchiha Council?" The Sandaime asked in jest.

"Not at all, Sandaime-sama. Anyway, I shall return with the children as soon as I can." With that, Itachi, who had been a Kage Bushin all along, disappeared in a puff of smoke, transferring all its knowledge to the original Itachi, who is currently pursuing the ROOT army to Kumo.

As soon as the Itachi Bushin was gone, the Sandaime turned to the silent Hyuuga Hiashi and asked, "Tell me, Hiashi, what are your plans concerning Hinata-chan and Hanabi-chan?"

"What makes you think I have any plans concerning those two, Sandaime-sama?"

"Because, despite their role in this, I would not allow any harm to come to those two, particularly Hanabi-chan." The Sandaime said gravely.

"Then we are of the same page, Hokage-sama. By your leave, I have a lot of work to be done." With that, the Hyuuga Clan Head left the office. 

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Neji has been leaning against the wall for a few minutes now after they left the office, staring at the sleeping Hanabi with her head on Hinata's lap, gently stroking her hair.

For a moment, Neji almost forgot that these two were mere impostors posing as his uncle's daughters. But everyone could see how much this Hinata adores and cares for the fake Hanabi, much like the real Hinata with the real Hanabi.

Neji knew he should hate these two impostors but having the information he have now, he just couldn't force that hate to stay. 

Neji's thoughts came to an abrupt stop when he heard Hinata say, "You adore them, don't you."

"What?" He asked dumbly, caught unaware.

"The real Hinata and Hanabi, I mean, particularly Hinata-san." She said, her voice flat and soft, not even looking at him. 

"How much do you know about her?" He ask flatly. But there was genuine curiosity on his voice.

"Almost everything. But considering how easy we've been caught, it wasn't enough."

"I wouldn't be surprised. Hinata-sama barely shows her real self in public, even within the Hyuuga Clan House."

"But she have no reason to hide anything from you, it seems. You have proved time and time again how loyal you are to her. Not to the Hyuuga but her specifically. Can I ask when you decided to devote yourself to her, that is, if you wouldn't mind?"

For several minutes, Neji contemplated if he should tell her that particular event. In the end, he decided that it wouldn't hurt any if she knew so he said, "It was a few days before the failed kidnapping of Hinata-sama by Gashir from Kumo, a week after I was given the Caged Bird Seal. Hinata-sama hurt her hand, I was never told how, but she was given a very chakra sensitive seal to heal it properly. Any use of chakra in the clan, including the Byakugan, had been forbidden by Hiashi-sama until the healing seal is removed in a weeks time. 

"My father and I were watching Hiashi-sama spar with Hinata-sama in the dojo when my father tried to scan her with the Byakugan. Hiashi-sama, seeing this, immediately activated the seal on my father's forehead, putting him in extreme pain for disobeying a direct order from the clan head. Hinata-sama, seeing this, had attacked Hiashi-sama, unintentionally closing a tenketsu on his leg, as well as endangering herself."

"How?" Hinata asked in genuine curiosity.

"Because she tried to give herself a Caged Bird Seal three days prior."

_-----Flashback-----_

_"Hinata, do you have any idea what would have happened if your seal reacted with the Byakugan's chakra?" Hiashi asked his crying daughter harshly, who was standing between him and the now incapacitated Hizashi, who is just starting to recover from the effects of the Caged Bird Seal a few seconds prior._

_Neji, stunned at first by the harshness of the Caged Bird Seal to those who have them, was more stunned now that Hinata-sama actually attacked her own father to stop Hiashi from hurting Neji's father._

_"The same thing you had done to uncle." Hinata said softly, trying to sound brave and failing miserably._

_"Fool! The seal on your hand would have killed you instantly! There is a big difference between the Branch House's Caged Bird Seal and the one you tried to give yourself! Their seal produces pain. Yours will simply kill you. Hizashi almost killed you." He shouted harshly._

_"I don't care!" Hinata shouted back, earning a gasp from everyone else in the room. It was the very first time the timid and shy Hinata had ever shouted like that, and to her own father nonetheless. Then, her voice turned soft, tears started flowing down her cheeks. "Please father, he is your brother, my uncle. You're both family to me. I-I love you both."_

_"Hinata-sama." Came Hizashi's voice. Turning around, they saw him kneeling behind her with his head bowed, his forehead touching the floor. "Hiashi-sama is not at fault here. He has every right to punish me for my disobedience."_

_"Please, uncle. You didn't know. No one but me, Yondaime-sama, and father were supposed to know." Hinata said apologetically, kneeling in front of her uncle._

_-----End Flashback-----_

"The Caged Bird Seal she tried to give herself failed miserably. Instead of providing pain, it would have killed her instantly. Luckily, Yondaime-sama was able to put a counter seal on it to erase it a week later. But if any Hyuuga chakra had activated it, she would have died." Neji said, a scowl present on his face that Hinata didn't fail to notice.

"You don't seem to approve of her getting a seal of her own." Hinata commented.

"Of coarse not! She could have died that whole week." Neji said angrily.

"And you devoted yourself to her for doing it despite the dangers to her self. Because it showed you how far she would go to show that she doesn't care about the Hyuuga Main and Branch House conflicts. To her, family is family." 

Neji's anger evaporated instantly. She was right. It was during that time that he had devoted himself fully to Hinata-sama, seeing her as the only one worthy of his loyalty. Over the years, his loyalty turned into brotherly love, which only intensified once Hanabi was born. For Hinata-sama, he gave her younger sister the benefit of a doubt, which turned out to be the right choice all along. Despite being a bit more rebellious than her older sister, Hanabi is just as lovable as Hinata-sama. 

After several minutes of awkward silence, Neji asked, "Do you really not remember your real name?"

For the first time, Hinata looked directly at Neji's eyes, confused at his sudden gentle tone of voice. After a few seconds of silent contemplation, she finally said, "I think I remember a name. But it's been so long so I'm not sure if it's even mine."

"What is it then?"

"Hikaru."

"Hikaru." Neji echoed, as if testing how the name sounded to him by voicing it out. "It's a pretty name." 

Hinata, or rather Hikaru, gave Neji a stare, her cheeks now sporting a tiny reddish hue. 

It was just then that Hiashi stepped out of the door and look t all three of them. Neji gave him a curious look after a brief glance at the girls, Hikari gave off a resigned sigh, while Hanabi slept on.

Hiashi didn't fail to notice the Hinata look a like unconsciously drawing Hanabi closer to her when his stare turned to them. Despite no emotion showing on her face, her body language says she was afraid for the younger girl. 

Before he could say anything, his nephew Neji suddenly kneeled in front of him, placing himself between the Clan Head and the two girls before saying, "Hiashi-sama, permission to handle the situation until Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama's return." Then, as an after thought, he added, "Please."

Hiashi stared at his nephew questioningly. A few hours ago, Neji was just itching to strike down the impostors. Now, he seems to be trying to protect them from his supposed wrath, even going as far as to beg him to spare them. Neji had never begged for anything in his life. To force him to do so means he was quite serious indeed.

Trying to test his nephew's resolve, he gave them a glare with a small amount of killing intent as he asked, "Why should they be spared my wrath, boy? They are ROOT Agents, who's purpose was to make sure my daughters are taken without me knowing. Tell me why I should not strike them down for their roles in this conspiracy?"

Several emotions passed through Neji's face. First it was confusion. He wasn't sure himself why he suddenly decided to do this. Next was nervousness. He knew trying to reason with his uncle in his current state would be suicidal. Then it was anger. He knew Hiashi was right and has every right to be angry. And finally, defiance. 

Neji stared at his uncle's eyes and said, "Because family is family. If Hinata-sama was here and knew everything I've learned about the situation, she would be the one asking you this."

Hiashi remained silent. He knows his nephew was right. Hinata could be as defiant as her mother used to be when she sees family being mistreated. And despite how situations come about, these two girls are still Hyuugas, at least until he makes it official.

Staring at Neji, he said, "Very well. Until Hinata and Hanabi are returned, you shall be responsible for them. We will then discuss their fate once they are back." Then, he turned his back on them and started to walk away, neither of the three children noticing the small proud smile the Hyuuga Clan Head sported on his face for his nephew.

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A/N: To all that gave me the reviws, THANK YOU! Sorry for taking so long but I had to make several revisions on this chapter alone. At first, I wasn't even gonna introduce any Hyuuga in this chapter yet but luckily I wasn't able to think of anything that would just allow Danzo to get to Kumo without problems. Itachi shouldn't even be here yet but Iruka alone won't be able to taker on the entire ROOT army by himself. 

Both of Iruka and Itachi's past will be revealed soon, particularly why both men seems to be over powerful compared to their canon counterparts. 

The status of the kidnapped children will be on the next chapter. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto Kishimoto does. But I wish I did.

SUMMARY: After a final attempt to turn the tides of war against an Orochimaru, Naruto suddenly woke up in a Konoha where the villagers saw him as a hero but all his precious people only saw him as a spoiled brat and a nuisance. But the biggest surprised of all is that a mother he had never knew was alive, and that he also has a younger sister with a terminal illness. Can he cope with this new world before him? Can he regain the trust of his precious people once again? And would he be able to defeat the Orochimaru of this world?

**CHAPTER 6**

Iwagakure no Sato, the Hidden Village of Stone, is in high alert. Heck, every Hidden Villages throughout the entire Shinobi Nation had been in high alert ever since the chakra shockwave from Fire Country a week ago. On top of that, there seems to be some kind of movement by the Leaf in the Iwa-Konoha boarders.

The Tsuchikage knows that there could only be one source of that chakra wave. The Kyuubi no Kitsune. According to her spies, the vessel of the Demon Fox have tampered with the seal. The reason behind it is still unknown.

She'd heard about the vessel before but didn't give him any mind, despite the fact that the vessel isn't just the vessel of the most powerful of the Tailed Beasts, but also the son of her most hated enemy, Kazama Arashi. She was told that the boy was a coward and his younger sister will soon be dead due to chakra poisoning. And for 53-years old Setsuna, Rokudaime Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, cowards have no place in her mind so she never bothered to learn anything else about Arashi's family after his death several years ago. In fact, after letting the people of Iwa know that the Kazama Clan would die out in a couple of years thanks to chakra poisoning and cowardice, she made sure all spying on that particular clan are stopped since they are no longer a threat to Iwa. She knows how much her people will call for revenge on her enemy's family if that particular clan even hint at being a threat. She wouldn't want another war if she could help it.

But still, speculations on the reasons for the chakra wave are getting more and more ridiculous by the day. Some say the demon managed to escape the seal and is now lose. Other says that the demon managed to possess its vessel and have wrecked havoc to Konoha. Some even says that the vessel made a pact with the demon to use its immense chakra. One man even had an insane idea that the vessel's soul had been replaced by someone from another dimension, where the said vessel had been a very powerful Kage. Yup, he's insane.

The most believable story currently circulating through the village is that the vessel had been in a life and death situation and the fox release its chakra to save him. It seems to be the best possible explanation. But just incase she's wrong; she sent one of her best ANBU squads towards the Iwa-Konoha boarders yesterday, along with three other squads that the Iwa Council had vehemently suggested to be allowed to tag along.

She scowled thinking about Iwa's Council's bolder movements recently. She's already under the scrutiny of most of the council for denying them the chance to attack Konoha after the Yondaime's death, saying that since the biggest thorn on their side is finally neutralized, Konoha would be easy picking for Iwa. They forgot that the Yellow Flash was not the only legendary ninja hailed from the Leaf, the Dansetsu no Sannin being prime example, even if one of them went missing nin.

Iwa have its own number of legendary ninjas, but since most of them are loyal to the Tsuchikage, the Council wouldn't dare oppose her openly.

She was just about to call on her secretary to inquire about those said ANBU squads when she felt the familiar chakra signature of someone using Shunsin to teleport to her office.

A second later, an Iwa ANBU wearing a brown cloak appeared before her in a kneeling position.

The Tsuchikage gave the lizard-masked ANBU a once over before saying, "You're late. And where is the rest of your team? I do hope your report is worth it or I'll be very _displeased_."

The Iwa ANBU gulped at his superior's open threat after taking off his mask and placed a silver rimmed reading glass on. The 25 years old Sato gave his superior another bow before saying, "Forgive me, Tsukikage-sama, but I assure you our report is worth it." Before he could continue, both ninja felt another presence approaching.

A second later, another two ANBU teleported into the room. One is wearing a vulture mask while the other is wearing a scorpion mask. The vulture wearing one suddenly took off his mask, revealing what would be quite a handsome face if it isn't trying to hold back tears and failing miserably.

Not being able to hold it anymore, the handsome man somehow teleported near the Tsukikage's legs, put his arms around them, and started crying his eyes out while asking his superior with the a whine, "Setsuna-obaasan, I'm still pretty, right? I haven't lost my charms, right? I can still swoon women with a wink, right? I'm not ugly at all, right? Right? RIGHT?"

**SMACK! CRASH! THUD!**

And the handsome man aint so handsome anymore with a developing black eye and his face buried halfway into the wall of the Tsukikage's office.

With a throbbing vein on her forehead, Setsuna turned her attention to the two standing subordinates before asking, "I assume there is a good explanation for Tetsuo-baka forgetting his lessons about going anywhere near me like that again?"

The lizard ANBU gulp while the scorpion ANBU took off his, or rather her mask to reveal a grinning face before saying, "Oh, there is a _very_ good reason for Tetsuo-baka in getting such justice, Tsukikage-sama."

Setsuna raised her eyebrows at the grinning 20 year old Arika. It wasn't a secret that both she and Tetsuo have this love-hate relationship ever since the two were in the Ninja Academy. Both used to be childhood friends until Tetsuo's handsome face got to his head and he made a pledge to have every woman he meets swoon under his charms, which he seems to be succeeding at, at least here in Iwakagure. There are only a handful of females that is not affected by his charms, and that includes Arika herself.

Hearing a pained groan from Iwa's Playboy, Arika's grin went wider as she beamed gleefully, "Tetsuo-baka got dumped by a girl!"

Setsuna's eyebrow rose at the news and said simply, "Explain."

Sato cleared his throat, stopping Arika from gloating about Tetsuo-baka's just desert a bit more before starting his report. "My team discovered a secret Konoha underground ninja bunker near our boarders. It was really well hidden and we only found it because Arika accidentally saw a few Leaf shinobi entering the hidden passage with a brown sack. We managed to infiltrate said base and had to eliminate a few hostiles. We found out that it was a laboratory of some sort and found more than a few dead test subjects inside." Sato then produced a few slightly burnt papers from his cloths and handed them to the Tsukikage, who immediately read it. Seeing his superior's eyes narrows, he continued, "As you can see, most of the test subjects are children from Konoha's Bloodlimit clans. A few of our ANBU escorts voiced out that if we continued the experiments, it would be a great boon for Iwa. Jimbu thought otherwise."

Jimbu, or more commonly known as Iwa's Silent Giant, is, well, a giant of a man. Due to a birth defect, Jimbu had grown up to almost thirteen feet tall of pure muscle. Even though that same birth defect took away his capacity to use chakra, the man is considered the strongest man on Iwakagure.

"What did he do?" Knowing Jimbu, the Tsukikage already have a pretty good idea what must have happened but she wanted them to tell her anyway.

"Jimbu leveled the entire base to the ground, turning it into a tomb for the victims. We had to physically restraint a few protestors though." Sato said flatly.

"I still say we should have killed them all and say they died in the line of duty. I mean, they tried to kill Jimbu for doing the right thing. And when we stopped them, they have the nerve to call us traitors of Iwa and would be executed by the Council." Arika said heatedly.

The Tsukikage sighed at that. Although the new generation of Iwa's forces are a whole lot more humane than the ones before them, there were still a lot of her people who would readily turn a blind eye for a promise of power. "Although I think Jimbu did the right thing, the Council can and will use this against me. I just hope there would be enough people in the council to realize that most of those test subjects are children, despite being from an enemy village."

"I have no doubt you could turn most of them to your line of thinking, Tsukikage-sama." Sato said confidently.

Setsuna nodded at that. A second later, she asked, "By the way, where is Jimbu?"

Arika, beaming once more, beat Sato in saying, "Showing his new friend around the village."

The Tsukikage's left eyebrow rose once more.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow! This place is awesome! It's so different from home!" Naomi beamed happily as she looks around the entire place while ridding on her new friend's shoulder.

Quite a lot of people are staring at the young girl happily sitting on the shoulder of one of the scariest looking man in Iwa as they were strolling around the village. Most villagers, shinobi and civilian alike, were giving the 13 feet behemoth a very wide space, afraid he'll step on them if they get too close.

The cute purpled haired girl seems to be a complete contrast with the giant. By the looks of it, she seems to be no more than 8 years old and had just seen the village for the very first time, which isn't that far off.

The bald, muscle-bound giant of a man couldn't quite understand it himself. Before he and his squad destroyed the secret base, they found the little girl asleep and tied up at one of the holding cells of the said base. They took her out of there just before he leveled the place in a fit of rage. She hadn't even woken up by the loud crashes during it.

The girl woke up an hour later with Tetsuo's face hovering above her and the first thing she said to the egoistic man was, "You look ugly." In her most innocent voice, causing the handsome man to have a panic attack and Arika a laughing fit that lasted almost an hour.

When the little girl turned her innocent eyes towards him, he thought she would be like all the other kids, and quite a few adults, who would instantly cower in fear of him. Imagine his surprise when the girl walked towards him, look at him in awe, put up her arms, and said, "Hi there, I'm Naomi. Carry me."

Not knowing what to do, he did as she asked. She's been using him as her personal horse and tour guide ever since, chatting almost none stop about how cool it was to travel to a new place.

"Jimbu-chan, lets go over there." Naomi said cheerfully, pointing at a large building a few blocks away.

Jimbu turned and saw that it was the Ninja Academy. He usually avoids the place because almost every child he met run away screaming at first sight of him. But seeing Naomi's cheerful face, he started walking there anyway.

Incidentally, it was recess so most of the kids were on the lawn near the front of the school. When the kids saw the giant, all of them started running away in fear. One seven year old girl tripped on the soil fell in the middle of the lawn just as Jimbu entered the Academy gate. Thinking that those horror stories about Iwa's Silent Giant to be true, the young girl curled up into a ball, cried, closed her eyes tight, and said, "Please don't eat me. Please don't eat me." Like a mantra.

That is, until she heard a young female voice in front of her asking innocently, "Why are you crying?"

When the girl opened her eyes a bit, she saw a purple haired girl kneeling in front of her looking at her strangely. "It's t-the g-g-giant. H-he's g-going to e-e-eat me!" The little girl whispered fearfully.

"Really? Where?" Naomi asked innocently, looking around.

"B-behind y-y-you." The girl whispered again, looking fearfully at the giant standing behind the strange girl.

Naomi turned around but only saw Jimbu looking at them in an emotionless look. She turned back to the girl and said, "But that's just Jimbu-chan. He's my new friend. Want ride in his shoulder with me? It's so cool."

Her confusion overcoming her fear a bit, she looks at the girl in front of her as if she just sprouted a second head. She was so shocked that she didn't realize that the other girl help her up on her feet and pulled her in front of the giant man and said with a smile, "You don't mind, do you, Jimbu-chan?"

The giant merely shook his head no and picked up both girl and put them on his shoulders.

Naomi noticed the other girl had her eyes closed the entire time and said, "Hey, you can't see how cool it is if you don't open your eyes."

The other girl, still a bit afraid, opened her eyes and gasped at how high from the ground she was. It's like a whole different world being this high up. And it actually feels quite comfortable sitting on the giant's shoulder. "W-wow!"

The other children hiding nearby slowly came out from hiding upon hearing her exclamation. Despite their fear, they were quite curious what it would be like to seat on the giants shoulder like that.

Seeing the smile on the younger girl's face, Naomi beamed cheerfully and said, "See? I told you it would be cool."

The girl, being in awe at her unusual predicament, merely smiled and nodded her head in agreement.

"Hey, I want a ride too."

"Yeah, me too."

"Can I please ride on your shoulder, Mister Giant?"

Came the voices of the other children by Jimbu's feet. When he look down on them, he saw not the scared faces he usually see on them when he's around, but the curious, awed, and smiling faces of kids that actually want to be near him.

For a moment, Iwa's Silent Giant didn't know what to do. He'd always like children, adore them really. But he had never been in this type of situation before, where innocent children actually didn't look at him in fear but in curiosity. And it's all thanks to the little purpled haired girl on his left shoulder.

"Wow, Jimbu-chan. You're quite popular." Naomi said cheerfully, giving her new friend a hug.

A few minutes later, several kids are squealing happily as they ride on the giant's arms and shoulders, not even realizing several people observing them from a distance.

This is the scene that the Tsukikage arrived at with Arika, Tetsuo, and Sato right behind her. Most of them, civilian females in particular, are staring at awe at the gentleness the giant is exhibiting at the moment.

"Is that really Silent Giant Jimbu?" one civilian female asked in curiosity.

"I know what you mean. Who would have thought a man like that could have such a gentle side of him." Another one said, nodding his head sagely.

"Looking at him like that, I have no doubt he would make such a wonderful father one day." An older woman said smiling.

"I wouldn't mind him fathering my children. He must be a giant in his lower regions as well." One flirtatious girl said staring at the giant.

That sentence brought several women to develop blushes of their own thinking about the said subject. But none of them seems to object to it.

Seeing the women reaction around him, Tetsuo couldn't take it anymore and run away crying his eyes out and shouting things about Jimbu stealing his power to woo women off their feet.

"Well, I better go after Tetsuo-baka before he gets into trouble." Arika said a bit too cheerfully.

Sighing, Sato said, "You just want to gloat to him more."

Arika didn't even deny it and her grin had widened more at the accusation before leaving after her hated teammate.

Setsuna, on the other hand was staring intently at the purpled hair eight years old girl. The girl greatly resembles another girl she saw in a picture a while ago. But although she have a striking resemblance to Kazama Naomi, the Yello Flash's daughter, the reports said she was quite ill due to chakra poisoning and had stopped aging at the age of four. But then again, if the reports about the reasons for the chakra wave a few days ago were true, then it means that Konoha had succeeded in curing the girl's chakra disease.

Everyone went still when Jimbu and the kids were suddenly surrounded by half a dozen Iwa ANBU in full battle gear. Jimbu himself went tense, knowing he won't be able to retaliate since there are children hanging by his shoulders.

"ANBU Agent Jimbu, you are hereby under arrest for insubordination and deviating from mission objectives. Please come quietly for interrogation and trial." The leader said in a flat tone.

Jimbu didn't say anything for as few seconds, making the ANBU surrounding him and the children tense enough to place their hands near their weapon pouches. When he finally moved, one tense ANBU went to grab a kunai, but was immediately halted by the appearance of the glaring Tsukikage in between him and Jimbu and the kids.

"On who's authority are these charges being brought up?" The Tsukikage asked in a voice that broke no argument, making the ANBU take an involuntary step back.

The leader took a step forward and said in a professional voice, "Tsukikage-sama, these orders were given directly by the Council concerning his deviation in the mission objectives, particularly the destruction a newly acquired asset for Iwa."

"That 'asset', as the council calls it, is a genocide camp at its worse, kidnapping small children from bloodline clans and dissecting them. From what we've seen on the site, there are at least just shy of a hundred bodies there of children ranging from three to fifteen years of age." Sato said flatly, earning a gasped from almost everyone within hearing range.

"Regardless," The lead ANBU said again. "Jimbu have been ordered to show himself for questioning by the council."

The Tsukikage walked until she was directly in front of the ANBU leader and said in a flat tone, "Tell the council that Jimbu will be there in an hour. And that they better have a damn GOOD explanation why they think they have any jurisdiction to order MY personal ANBU Squad around."

The leader tense at the tone and took two involuntary steps back before composing himself and nodding. Then he put his hands in a seal and disappeared via shunshin, followed by the rest of his men.

As soon as the ANBU squad was gone, several citizens went to the Tsukikage to confirm what they heard about the so called 'asset' of the council. All she had to say in the matter was, "Please choose a few representatives and my subordinate Sato will provide them with a copy of the report and answers to your questions. But please be aware that this information might be too gruesome for others not prepared for it. That is all."

The Tsukikage knows that it was breaking protocol to give out such sensitive information like this to the public. But she will need all the support she could get to prevent the council from gaining the high ground of power. And having the people to back you up is a powerful tool indeed.

She turned towards Jimbu, who was putting down the last of the children from his shoulders back to the ground. The children said their goodbyes to the giant making him promise to let them ride him again later before running towards class, all except for the purple haired girl, who was staring at her with curiosity.

Suddenly, both girls turned towards the South East, the general direction of Fire Country. Naomi has a smile on her face while Setsuna narrowed her eyes at the dark clouds starting to accumulate from that direction. A chill of anticipation suddenly traveled down her spine when the little girl said in a soft voice,

"Mommy's coming."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Iwa commander paused in supervising his men, who were digging their way through the destroyed ROOT lab, when he felt the first drop of rain on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw that the dark skies finally decided to let down its accumulated water.

"Sir." Came a voice beside him. The commander turned and saw his lieutenant with several pieces of papers.

He took it from him and tried to read a few, but most of them are too damaged to make any sense. "Is this all you can find?" He asked in an annoyed voice. Most of his men are barely chunin levels because the Council needed most of their jounins to act as bodyguards in case the Tsukikage and her personal ANBU team decides to be difficult during the scheduled meeting.

"I'm sorry, sir. But Jimbu was very thorough when he destroyed the lab. He managed to hit all of the foundation and caused the entire place to collapse upon itself. Also, the worsening rain isn't helping in our excavation." The lieutenant said apologetically, already quite wet as the rain keeps getting stronger by the minute. "Also, we managed to dig up two bodies from the site. One of them is damaged beyond recognition. The other seems more preserve. We think the child was in a cryogenic tank when the lab collapsed. We estimated that the child is approximately a seven year old Inuuzuka that had been preserved for no less than ten years."

The commander nodded at that and wiped his face of rain water and said, "Bring it back to HQ. The Council may have a use for it. If we could salvage the notes in this base, then maybe we could continue the research these people were doing. I'm sure the Council will be more than happy to approve the kidnapping of a few more Konoha brats for experimentation." The Commander smirked nastily at the thought of killing off more Konoha citizens, even if they are going to be just kids.

His lieutenant mirrored his nasty smirk and was just about to do what he was told when a sudden burst of chakra was felt. The commander immediately made several seals and made a dome of rocks to protect him and his subordinate. After several minutes of unknown onslaught, everything went quiet except for the rain pour so he cancelled his jutsu. When both men emerge from the rock dome and tried to see what's going on, they saw some of their men are already dead, their bodies, as well as the entire landscape, riddled with senbon needles, which dissolved into water as soon as they did their jobs.

The commander swore. He knew there was something funny about the sudden rain pour. Both men tried to reach their men but it was too late. None but the two of them survive the onslaught of senbon needles hidden within the rain.

"It-it can't be! She's been dead for years!" Came the gasped of his lieutenant.

"What are you blabbering about, you idiot? Find out who did this!" He said in rage as he search the surrounding for the attacker.

"The Empress of Storm! This is one of her signature jutsus! We have to get out of here!" His subordinate said hastily, already turning around to escape.

The freaked out lieutenant never had the chance. A kunai came out of no where and embedded itself between his eyes. He died then and there, falling to the ground beside the commander.

When the commander turned to look behind him, he saw a figure of a redheaded woman with the corpse of the dead Inuuzuka child in her arms. Her emotionless eyes and killer intent caused him to take an involuntary step back. He had heard of stories of Whirlpool's Empress of Storm during his career. But since everyone thought she's already dead, he didn't bother to learn anything more than her name and accomplishments in battle.

Acting immediately, he went and made several seals for an attack. But he never got to finish his jutsu when he felt several kunais pointed on his neck, back, and sides. He cursed. He should have remembered that another signature move of the Empress of Storm is Kage Bushin.

Soon enough, he found himself tied and gagged against a tree guarded on all sides by Kage Bushin, while the original place the dead child in the middle of the excavation site. She walks towards the edge of the site and made several handseals and placed her palms on the ground as she said, "**Doton: Nomi Yuma!**"

Soon enough, the entire excavation site turned into quicksand and swallowed everything until there was nothing left but mud. Kushina didn't stop until several minutes later, making sure the entire laboratory will never be un-earthed again. When she finally stopped, she offered a small prayer to all the bodies now totally buried underground, particularly the child she had held.

The Iwa commander sweated heavily despite the rain when the original Kushina walk towards him and removed his gag. "Describe the children taken from this place."

The commander knew it wasn't a question. He tried to hold firm, he really did. But the woman was a demon in interrogation. Never relenting, never accepting other answers but what she needs.

The torture lasted of all half an hour before the Iwa commander was puking his guts out to the insane woman. And when it was all over, Kushina slit his throat in mercy.

After burying the body, she dispelled her clones and started running towards Iwakagure, the rain storm moving in the same direction with her.

_'You have been quiet.'_ Kushina's thought said through her link with Akane.

_'I always hated that part of being a ninja.'_ Came Akane's soft tone.

_'It was necessary. We got what we needed. Iwa have our daughter.' _

_'Yes. And Danzou is on his way to Kumo with our son.'_

_'Dolphin will make sure he is safe.'_

_'Will he? One of the main reasons he left is because I had to pick between him and Naruto.'_

_'Do you really believe he will abandon our son?'_

After several minutes of silence, Akane finally answered with a, _'No.'_

_'Good.'_ Kushina said, her sights on the horizon. _'Because believing in him is the only thing we could do at the moment.'_

Both personalities in the same body were quiet after that. They need to focus if they want to rescue their daughter without delay.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The first thing Hanabi saw when she woke up was the concern look on her older sister's face above her as well as the throbbing ache on her head. "What the damn hell happened?" She grumbled as she tried to get up.

But Hinata pushed her back down and said, "Please don't try to get up yet, Hanabi-chan. You're hurt."

"Don't be such a worry-wart, sis. I aint some fucking porcelain doll. I can take a bit of freaking pain." She said as she pushed her sister's hand away and got up in sitting position, only to stop short when she finally realize that they weren't the only ones in the room. Standing around the room were some of the prominent people of the Branch House. There's Manami, the chief cook; Taka, the assistant head of security; Elder Kimisa, the majordomo; a stoic Neji; and several others. She could even see a few younger Branch members of the clan looking at them from the door. Some of them have a suspicious look in their eyes while a few are openly glaring at her. But at the moment, most are looking at her in shock. Seeing the situation she's in, she blurted, "What the fuck is going on?" before she could stop herself. Blushing furiously at her slip, she immediately tried to salvage her heiress reputation and tried to look shy and demure as she says in a stutter, "Um, I mean, m-may I inquire on the situation I currently find myself in?"

"Amazing! She got Hanabi-chan's reaction down to a Tee." Manami said in shock, with others nodding their head in amazed agreement. At Hanabi's reflexive retort of, "Hey! What the fuck does that suppose to mean?", she added in an approving tone, "I rest my case."

Instead of being reprimanded for her language at the elders, most of the people there had suddenly lost their hostile looks only to be replaced by astonishment and sadness.

Hanabi gave her sister a questioning look but all she got back was a sigh of relaxation, as if something bad would have happened if things didn't go as they did. "Onee-chan?"

Hinata gave her a smile and said, "It's alright, Hanabi-chan. You're safe now."

"What does that supposed to mean?" She asked, more confused than ever, turning to Neji.

Neji, as stoic as ever when there are other people in the room except for the three of them, said, "There has been a situation in the clan, a kidnapping to be precise."

"Who?" the girl gasped in anger, her Byakugan activating subconsciously, her anger blinding her to the nods of approval of most of the people within earshot.

"Someone cherished by both the Main and Branch House." Neji replied cryptically but said no more on the identity of the kidnapped Hyuuga. "Hiashi-sama had ordered that you and Hinata-sama to remain here in the protection of the Branch House until the matter is resolve, which wouldn't be more than a week."

"What? You can't fucking expect me to stay cooped up inside the house the entire week!" Hanabi shouted, salvaging her reputation as the demure, sophisticated younger heiress of the clan flying out the window.

Hinata immediately took her hand in hers as she said in a pleading tone, "Please, Hanabi-chan. A member of our family has been taken. Ignoring father's order to keep us safe would only hinder him in their rescue."

"B-but, we can't just sit here and do nothing! We have to do something, I don't know what but we have to! No one messes with my family! No one!" she raged, earning her the approval of most people with in earshot.

"We will." Neji said without hesitation, earning him the attention of both heiresses. "That is why Hiashi-sama had ordered the Brach House to take charge in your protection while most of the Main House tries to settle the matter. We must all do our part, and yours is to remain safe here until we get them back."

Hanabi bristled at her role but a reassuring squish of hands from her older sister stopped her argument before it even starts. Sighing in defeat, she moved into a kneeling position as she turned to every Branch member in the room. She then bowed her head and said in her most official voice, "I leave myself and my sister's safety in your capable hands. Please take care of us."

"We accept responsibility and shall do our duty with pride and honor of the Hyuuga." Taka said formally as he bowed along with the other branch members in the room.

Unnoticed by everyone else except Neji, Hinata, or rather Hikaru, sighed in relief. For now, both of them would be safe, particularly 'Hanabi'. Whether they remain safe after the return of the true heiresses, is another matter entirely.

She suddenly felt someone took her hand. Turning, she saw it was Neji giving her the barest of nods. She smiled at that. At least she knows Neji would keep 'Hanabi' safe when the real Hanabi returns. She blushed when he gave her hand another gentle squish. She was still skeptical but his reassurance was enough to produce a genuine, yet still sad smile from her.

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The first thing Hanabi saw when she woke up was the concern look on her older sister's face above her as well as the throbbing ache on her head. "What the damn hell happened?" She grumbled as she tried to get up.

But Hinata pushed her back down and said, "Please don't try to get up yet, Hanabi-chan. You're hurt."

"Don't be such a worry-wart, sis. I aint some fucking porcelain doll. I can take a bit of freaking pain." She said as she pushed her sister's hand away and got up in sitting position, only to stop short when she noticed they are inside some kind of cage. Looking outside the cage, they seem to be in some kind of camp. There are several tents up and most of the people there are in their ANBU uniform. There's even a similar cage nearby with several seals on it. "What the fuck?"

"Ah, I see you're finally awake." An old man's voice said behind them. Turning around, they saw an old one eyed, one armed, man looking at them from outside the cage. "And my spies weren't exaggerating when they told me the youngest heir have such a potty mouth."

Hanabi bristled at the old man's tone and said furiously, "Who the fuck are you, old man? Do you have any idea who we are?"

The old man merely smirked and said, "Of course, Hyuuga-san. I know exactly who you are."

Hanabi would have said something quite rude in reply but Hinata quickly put a hand on her mouth and said to the old man in a very formal tone, "Danzo-sama, I hope you realize the retaliation of Hyuuga Clan will invoke upon you for this."

"Of course, Hyuuga-san. But not even the Hyuuga Council would dare go against me with an entire village of Kumo behind me. And all I need to do is offer them the one thing they want most, the Byakugan."

Hinata gasped at the indication of their fate. Her father had made sure she studied one of the Hyuuga's most hated enemy, Kumogakure. Kami only knows how many of Hyuuga's had died under Kumo's apprehend on site order just so they could try to find out the secret of the Byakugan.

"Just try it you freaking invalid and I'll make sure to give those injuries of yours a matching set!" Hanabi said defiantly, glaring at Danzo.

"Such a firecracker you are, Hyuuga-san. I wonder how much defiant you would be as either a specimen or a breeding stock for Kumo?" Danzo said with a nasty smirk.

"**You will not touch them!**" A sudden burst of killing intent washed over every ROOT ANBU in the area, making them tense despite their emotionless conditioning. Despite his years of experience, Danzo himself couldn't help but tense at the rage emanating from the sealed cage.

Danzo managed to compose himself and turned calmly towards the other cage, only to see the seals around it working diligently to suppress the red chakra inside. Looking in he saw the tightly bound Kazama heir glaring at him.

"And what, pray tell, could you do, Kazama-san?" Danzo asked with a smirk as the last of the red chakra were suppressed by the seals on the cage. When Naruto refused to answer, Danzo placed his hand on one of the main seals and activated it, eliciting a gasp of pain from the boy. Despite that, Naruto's glare never wavered.

After several minutes of silent torture, Danzo finally got tired of it and took his hand away from the seal, deactivating it. But still, the glare from the Kazama heir never wavered. Danzo had to smile at that. "I see that you did change after all."

"Yeah, well, death would do that to you." Naruto groaned out tiredly, still glaring at the older man.

"And it seems cheekiness is an added bonus for your miraculous recovery."

Naruto would have answered quite rudely if he hadn't lost consciousness right there and then. Danzo smirked at that. Just as he thought, the brat was worthless without the Kyuubi's chakra. Once the brat is properly conditioned to obey only Danzo, then he would be a very useful tool for the future.

Danzo turned back to the Hyuuga heirs and said, "If I had known he would be able to utilize Kyuubi's chakra like that, I would have ordered an attempted assassination of him years ago."

That earned a gasp from the elder heir. "You gave the order to assassinate him?"

"Yes, Hinata-dono. Although, he was supposed to die at the ninja's hand. The mourning of his death would have given me and my men a better chance to carry out this plan much earlier. But then he survived and woke up from the coma when he wasn't supposed to. His sudden conscious use of the Kyuubi's chakra and new found knowledge in fuinjutsu made me thought he was someone else. My spies brought me all tests done by the Hokage to see if he was an impostor but all test came out positive that he is indeed Kazama Naruto. Now, imagine him conditioned to total obedience to me. Such a useful tool he would be, just like the two of you." He smiled nastily at the two girls. "You shall be my bargaining chip to ensure a place in Kumogakure. So please enjoy your stay, no matter how brief it would be." With that, Danzo turned and left.

Hanabi bristled at him but remained silent. Hinata did the same then turn to the other cage housing the Kazama heir. She herself had heard about his sudden change of heart since waking up from that coma, but she's still skeptical about it.

"I'm gonna get that freaking cripple if it's the last thing I do." Hanabi growled in anger.

Hinata merely sigh and look around. She tried activating her Byakugan but was unable to due to the chakra suppression seal on their cage. She could see several ROOT ANBU sentries around the camp so for the moment, escape is impossible.

"Darn. That was a drag." Came the groaning voice of Naruto as he started to wake.

"Oh great, now we have to endure the Kazama Brat's presence. Could things get any worse?" complained the grouchy Hanabi.

"Hello to you too, Hanabi-chan." The blond boy replied cheekily.

"Please refrain from addressing us so familiarly, Kazama-san. My sister is already aggravated as she is." Hinata said in the most snobbish voice she could muster, with Hanabi nodding her head. Naruto's that Hinata doesn't lose her stutter unless she really hated the person she's talking to.

"Hey, what did I ever do to you guys?" He pouted, already dreading the answer. What the hell did his counterpart do to earn the scorn of the most demure person he knows?

"As if you have to ask." Hanabi sneered. "At least getting kidnapped saved me the trouble of poisoning you in the future."

"What does that supposed to mean?" he asked in confussion.

"Oh, please!" Hanabi glared at him in hatred. "Don't tell me you forgot about what everyone expected of us in the near future."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." He said seriously this time.

Both girls looked at him and only saw confusion in his eyes. Hinata tried to see if there are any signs of deception in his eyes but she found none. Relenting, she finally said, "Kazama-san, you and my sister are engaged to marry once she reaches the age of consent, as agreed upon by both my father and the late Yondaime Hokage."

"WHAT? HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPENED?" Naruto shouted in shock, earning him a heated 'Hey!' from his supposed fiancée.

Naruto paced back and forth, as much as the space in his cage would allow, thinking how things turned out as they are. He turned back to the two girls who are now ignoring him. He took a good look at the older girl, her lithe face reminder him so much of the girl he had married in his other life.

All was quiet within each cage for several hours after that. Hanabi had finally fallen asleep cursing their situation, her head on her sister's lap.

Hinata noticed someone's eyes on her. When she turned to the other cage, she saw Naruto staring at her with such intensity and sadness that it made her flinched. "What?" she couldn't help to ask.

For a moment, Naruto merely stared at her with that same sad hungry look. Then he said in a sigh, "I don't remember."

"You don't remember what?"

"What I did for you to hate me this much."

"I don't hate you, Kazama-san. I am indifferent to you. There is a difference."

"And it's much worse than being hated." Naruto whined again, his heart breaking at her tone. "Please, tell me what I did."

For a moment, he thought she would ignore him again, until he heard her sigh and said, "Three years ago, you were informed of your betrothal to my sister. Since then, you came in and out of the Hyuuga compound as if you own the place, pushing around Branch members like your personal slaves under the coercion of most of the Hyuuga Council. One time, you got one particular Branch member in trouble. Her name is Nanami, an older cousin and my personal maid. Because of your lies, she was punished by the Council via activation of the Caged Bird Seal. They were extra harsh on her and is still in a coma to this day. It was after that that my father tried to end the engagement. The Hyuuga Council over ruled him but he made sure you are never to set foot in Hyuuga land until the wedding."

Naruto, meanwhile was shocked at the news. He never hated his other self more than he does now. He had known Nanami in his other life. She had been Hinata and Hanabi's unofficial older sister. She was one of the few Hyuuga's, despite Hanabi, and Neji, who were first to genuinely welcome him with open arms to the family after his marriage to Hinata. How could the other self do that? He couldn't even imagine putting anyone, much less sweet and dear Nanami, in a coma, however indirectly.

Hinata gave a snort, thinking the Kazama brat would just scoff and say, 'She deserve it.' But when she turned to him, she saw a shock look on his face she couldn't help but be confuse. He looks as if he actually doesn't know of what he did. She tried to look for any deception in his eyes but found none.

"Y-you actually d-don't remember?" Hinata asked in a whisper, her stutter returning.

"I-I. . ." But Naruto couldn't even form a solid word. He was too angry at himself. He have to fix this, if only to help Nanami. She was too sweet and kind for that to have happened to her. If he remember right, over exposure to the torture of the Caged Bird Seal is similar to the torture brought forth by Uchiha Itachi's Tsukiyomi. If his healing abilities are not enough, then he'll find the Tsunade of this world and drag her, kicking and screaming if he have to, back to Konoha so she could save Nanami-onee-chan.

But first, he have to escape and get back to Konoha, the sooner the better. He closed his eyes in concentration and tried to bring forth his chakra, but the seals in the cage activated immediately and sent volts of electricity into his body. He groaned in pain and had to stop. Panting, he tried again and earned him another surge of volts through his body.

Hinata was shocked at Naruto's sudden actions. She can't figure out why he was acting this way. Never have she saw this Naruto endure more than a papercut before without going into hysterics because of the pain. And now, he's purposely enduring several thousands volt of electric shock in a vain attempt of escape. His fifth attempt didn't show any results except pain but he wouldn't deter from his coarse of action and tried again.

Soon enough, he was groaning once more in the floor of his cage, panting heavily and smoke coming out of his burnt skin. When he is about to try again, Hinata finally shouted, "Stop it! It's no use. You're only hurting yourself!"

On the floor, Naruto groaned and managed to turn his head around to look at her, his eyes tired, his body riddled in painful electrical shocks, but his eyes were mournful. She gasped at those eyes, full of regret and sadness. Despite that, he gave her a sad smile and said, "I'm sorry." Then he tried one last time. Almost everyone in the vicinity, including Danzou himself, went on alert as chakra burst forth from Naruto's cage. The chakra burst was so powerful that it actually manages to burn some of the many seals surrounding the cage. But the rest of the seals were enough to drain him of chakra and send yet another surge of electricity through the cage. It almost fried the blond boy but fortunately, Naruto lost consciousness right then and there.

Whwn Danzou approached the cage with the unconscious boy, he turned to one of his ROOT ANBU Commander and said in a worried voice, "Add more of the seals in his cage and tell my army to pack up. We're heading out now and won't be stopping until we reach Kumo's capital."

"As you command, Danzou-sama."

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Iruka pause from his tree hopping when he felt an inkling of chakra reached his senses. Landing beside him, Yugito paused as well. Making a few hand signals to his daughter, she understood and immediately brought out a pair of kunais searched the surrounding area for the intruder hiding in their mist.

"I know you're there. Come out." Iruka ordered, his voice distorted by his porcelain ANBU mask. Within his cloak, he already have a pair of kunais in his hands.

A figure dropped down into a nearby tree. Iruka immediately recognized him and relax, signaling to his daughter to do the same. Still, weary of the stranger, Yugito relaxed her posture but kept the kunais in her hands.

"Weasel." Iruka said with a barest of nod.

The weasel masked ANBU did the same and said, "Dolphin. What is your mission?"

"Search and rescue of both the Kazama and Hyuuga heirs. As well as the optional mission of the assassination of Danzou and his ROOT."

Itachi nodded and turned from them before tree hopping away towards the East, where Danzou would be surely coming from.

Yugito kept quiet but she was in awe how professionally ANBU operates. She just hopes one day she could be like that.

Iruka turned to her and said, "Yugito-chan, I want you to head north for a couple of miles and then east to the boarder. Avoid contact with the enemy at all cost. There are going to be a squad of Konoha ANBU waiting at the boarder. Wait for us there."

Yugito would have argued but then his father have spoken in such a professional tone that all she did was nod her head and started to head north.

Before she took another step, her father's voice called out to her causing her to stop. "Be careful."

Yugito merely gave him a grin and nodded before darting off. Once she was gone, Iruka . . . no. Dolphin adjusted the strap of his short sword before heading towards east after Weasel.

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A/N: Hi there. Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. Also, I just want to point out that I have no beta reader so please excuse me if I got few snags in my grammar, particularly with my tenses. I'll try to work on it, but not till next year. I'm going to be a bit busy this December with work so don't expect another update this year. I made this chapter extra long so I hope you enjoy it. :-P

A/N 2: A cliffy. Aint I a stinker?

Next time: The rescue. Ino's recovery. And many more.


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